‘Get out of this one’: Ex-Carlton boss comes out swinging in defamation battle over lewd photo

Former Carlton chairman Luke Sayers says his estranged wife Cate said things to him like “let’s see how you get out of this” after a racy photo was shared on account X, according to court documents.

Mr Sayers is locked in a bitter legal battle with Ms Sayers after she sued in the Supreme Court of Victoria, claiming he was defamed in a legal submission he made to the AFL during an investigation into a photo of his penis posted on his social media account in January last year.

Carlton denied being responsible for the post, which tagged an executive of his sponsor, and said he was in the shower at the time.

In his defense submitted to the Supreme Court this week, Mr. Sayers claimed that one day after the incident, Mrs. Sayers said to him, “Let’s see how you get out of this.”

The Herald Sun reports that Ms Sayers will claim “material bad faith and improper purpose” and the matter will return to court on Friday.

The photo was deleted from social media 15 minutes after it was published.

“Sorry my account has been hacked – please disregard all posts,” a follow-up post read.

Mr Sayers was involved in an AFL investigation which concluded, based on all the evidence, that his account had been compromised.

Although cleared by the board, Mr Sayers resigned from the Carlton board later that day.

Mr Sayers made a legal representation to two lawyers acting for the AFL and Carlton in their separate investigations.

Ms Sayers sued over the statutory declaration and said in a writ submitted to the Supreme Court earlier this year that Mr Sayers had accused her of publishing explicit images “without her knowledge or authority” and of “shamelessly” publishing false information about her.

He is seeking compensation and said this had led to him being ostracized by the AFL, Carlton and others he knew.

In his defense submitted to the High Court this week, Mr Sayers said he did not personally operate account X, which was long managed by his personal assistant.

He said the photo was taken for “medical purposes.”

In his defense, Mr Sayers claimed that in March last year – two months after the photo was published on X – Ms Sayers used her password to download “numerous emails, text messages and photographs containing a confidential and legally privileged draft statutory declaration”.

He argued the legal declaration was submitted to AFL general counsel Stephen Meade and Christopher Townshend KC, who are leading Carlton’s internal investigation.

“Luke sought to maintain the confidentiality of the statutory declaration and its contents at all relevant times to protect Cate’s privacy and emotional health and well-being,” his lawyers said in his defence.

Mr Sayers argued that the public was unaware of the existence or content of the statutory declaration before the trial in the Supreme Court.

He said that he signed the statement “in order to fulfill his obligations and protect his reputation and interests” and that he was “forced to respond” after he was accused of sharing the obscene picture on X.

“The information contained in the legal declaration was true and accurate to the best of his knowledge and supported his reasonable and honest belief that there were grounds to suspect that Cate may have published X Post, which Cate denied,” court documents prepared by his lawyers said.

In his defense to the court, Mr. Sayers said that in his statement he explained the conditions that led to the taking of the medical photograph and outlined the people who knew the social media and phone passwords.

He said he was careful to “avoid any direct allegations” that his ex-wife had posted the photo to X

And he claimed that if he had not been sued, the contents of the statutory declaration would not have been made public.