Court allows privilege claims to be made over documents surrounding AFL’s explicit-picture inquiry
The AFL and former Carlton chairman Luke Sayers have been given the opportunity to withhold key parts of material relating to the league’s investigation into the businessman’s graphic scandalous secret in Sayers’ libel battle with his estranged wife Cate.
The High Court ordered that Luke Sayers and the AFL be allowed to claim legal privilege over material relating to the league’s investigation into the incident in January 2025; This cleared him of any wrongdoing following what he said was account X being hacked.
The lawsuit centers on a photo of Sayers’ penis that was posted for 13 minutes on the X account on January 8, 2025. Following this post, Sayers was investigated by the AFL integrity unit and was subject to an investigation himself. legal declaration He explained how he claimed the post came to be.
In a legal statement dated January 22, 2025, Luke Sayers told AFL and Carlton representatives that Cate was responsible for this duty and that he was responsible for it. not mentally well. KC’s lawyer, Matt Collins, told the court in May this year that his client had “issued a legal declaration in good faith that Ms Sayers had published post X, but she has denied doing so”.
Judge Andrew Watson this week also changed the nature of the material the four key parties to the high-stakes libel battle must provide to the court.
Subpoenas were issued to the AFL in May; Carlton; Sharon McCrohan, the AFL’s current general manager of corporate affairs; and Julie Trainor, Luke Sayers’ long-time personal assistant, were appointed to present material to the court in relation to the explicit photo incident and the subsequent AFL investigation.
In new amendments to these subpoenas, the court also focused on material relating to the preparation and processing of Luke Sayers’ statutory declaration to the AFL.
The former PwC boss claimed the X account had been hacked and the published photo, which tagged a senior marketing executive at Carlton sponsor Bupa, was taken for medical purposes.
Luke Sayers’ legal statement now forms the basis of Cate Sayers’ defamation lawsuit. The affidavit stated that the lies surrounding the publication of the explicit photo could not be trusted, that he suffered from mental illness and at times refused to take his medication. It also included a request that neither the police nor the AFL interview him.
In court filings, Cate Sayers had already questioned the AFL’s investigation and Carlton’s internal processes into the scandal, claiming they were “not conducted adequately or honestly”.
“The AFL… worked closely directly with Carlton and Luke to deliver an outcome that would publicly exonerate Luke,” he told the court.
It was recently revealed that a draft of the underlying statutory declaration was sent to the AFL before a sworn version was submitted to the league as part of the investigation.
AFL general counsel Stephen Meade and the AFL integrity unit, led by Tony Keane, were also named in revisions to this week’s subpoenas.
Under the new orders, once all the materials were submitted to the court, Luke Sayers and the AFL were given the opportunity to review them and claim privilege over all documents produced in response to the subpoenas. Cate Sayers and her attorneys will then have the opportunity to object to these privilege claims.
This is setting the stage for a fierce court battle between the parties over what can and cannot be used as evidence in a defamation case, and the case is expected to last until next year.
A hearing is scheduled for mid-August.
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