Spotlight on Seven
Bosses at the Seven Network are holding crisis talks on the future of Spotlight as allegations of payments for drugs and prostitutes engulf the current affairs program.
Former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach has alleged in court documents that prostitutes, drugs, free accommodation, a round of golf in Tasmania and a $361 tomahawk steak were all lavished on former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann as Seven’s Spotlight team seduced him into telling his story.
Justice Michael Lee has reopened the defamation hearing after Network 10’s lawyers presented Auerbach’s affidavits of more than 2,300 pages showing Lehrmann had provided Seven with confidential information related to his aborted trial for the rape of fellow staffer Brittany Higgins.
Seven bosses are waiting to hear Auerbach’s cross examination by Lehrmann’s lawyer Matthew Richardson SC when he appears in a hastily convened Federal Court hearing on Thursday afternoon and Friday before they decide the fate of the show.
“There is a lot of discussion about whether we can contain the damage or need to cut the head off the snake and close it down,” said one of many Seven insiders who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Seven bosses are wondering if the damage can be contained and the show saved as Nine did with Sixty Minutes after a botched child recovery operation in Lebanon saw four crew members arrested. The alternative would be to axe it.
Seven’s owner Kerry Stokes is understood to be furious at the negative publicity from the alleged murky dealings of the Spotlight producers and how it has tainted other Seven News brands.
Before Auerbach’s allegations even surfaced, the Spotlight interview had wider implications with Auerbach’s former boss Steve Jackson losing his role as NSW Police’s top media adviser before he had even started work. It is understood he will not be returning to Seven and - the Gold Coast Bulletin does not suggest any wrongdoing on Jackson’s part.
Spotlight’s seasoned executive producer Mark Llewellyn has also been drawn into the drama for his role in the Lehrmann saga that saw Spotlight stripped of its Walkley Award nomination when details of the deal to pay his $100,000 accommodation for a year came to light.
Auerbach claims Llewellyn’s reflection can be seen on a screen displaying Higgins personal text messages that he says Lehrmann supplied to Seven in a potential contempt of court.
Higgins messages and other video footage were supplied to
Lehrmann’s criminal lawyers during the defence of his aborted rape trial and should not have been used for any other purpose.
Llewellyn has not been a stranger to headlines in the past. In 2006 he left Nine for Seven after a bungled demotion and $350,000 pay cut and then revealed the detail of how presenter Jessica Rowe was “boned” by the network.
In 2014 it was reported he left current affairs show Sunday Night after allegedly pinning a producer against a wall. He took leave but remained at the network.
Meanwhile staff at Seven are upset at being dragged into the mess and appalled at the largesse lavished on Lehrmann while their own expenses are cut to the bone. “This is very serious and people are not happy,” one source said.
“While everything is being scrutinised in other areas of the business – you can’t even expense a coffee or an Uber – these guys are having massages,” another said. “It is appalling.”
Auerbach’s sensational affidavit of Seven munificence lists a string of other accommodation totalling more than $11,000 Seven paid for Lehrmann including a luxury $500a-night holiday home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs called Barker’s Charm.
It also paid $401.83 for a round of golf at Barnbougle in Tasmania and $259 for a meal at the Bridport Hotel.
Auerbach claims the TV network picked up the tab for a $555 meal at Chophouse in Sydney that included a $361 tomahawk steak and $48 worth of prawn toast.
It paid $517 for a meal at
Franca Restaurant in Potts Point that Auerbach said in his untested affidavit was followed by a taxi to the Meriton for a night of prostitutes and drugs.
“I recall that monies paid by the applicant for illicit drugs and prostitutes that evening at the Meriton and the following evening at a brothel in Surry Hills were reimbursed to the applicant by Seven through “per diems” via invoice,” he said.
The affidavit also said Seven paid $10,315 for a Sensai Thai Massage for Lehrmann and another man.
The string of payments are totalled on receipts from the massage parlour in Burwood and attached to his affidavit.
When contacted yesterday the massage parlour’s phone went through to voicemail before an SMS message was sent through from “Sensai Thai nude Massage” offering “30min/95” and suggesting “come see and talk to girls”.
A Seven spokesman rejected “the false and misleading claims relating to the broadcast of material in the Spotlight program.
“Seven has never revealed its source or sources and has no intention of doing so,’’ the spokesman said. “Seven notes Mr Lehrmann’s court testimony last year that he was not the source. Furthermore, Seven did not condone or authorise the alleged payments to Mr Lehrmann referred to in the affidavits.
“As has been previously reported, the person involved admitted to the misuse of a Seven corporate card and all unauthorised expenses were immediately reimbursed. Seven notes that these proceedings remain before the court.”