Australia: Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann invoiced elevision network Seven for ‘bender’ with cocaine and sex workers, court told
The Sydney Morning Herald
Bruce Lehrmann asked Seven to pay for a “bender” in Sydney with cocaine and sex workers as the network sought to secure an exclusive interview with the former federal Liberal staffer, an ex-producer on its Spotlight program has claimed in explosive evidence in the Federal Court.
Taylor Auerbach has emerged as an unlikely witness in Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and high-profile presenter Lisa Wilkinson after Ten won an eleventh-hour court bid on Tuesday to reopen its case and call him to give evidence in its defence.
The former senior producer on Spotlight told the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday that Lehrmann had “purchased a bag of cocaine while we were dining at Franca” in Potts Point in Sydney on January 5 last year before the exclusive interview deal was inked in April.
Auerbach said he had caught a taxi with Lehrmann from the restaurant to Meriton Suites near World Square, and Lehrmann had pulled out the bag “and started to put it on a plate”. He said Lehrmann had told him he wanted to order sex workers to the Meriton, and began “Googling a series of websites to try and make that happen”. The accommodation was paid for by Seven.
