Former Carlton president Luke Sayers in legal battle with estranged wife over lewd photos
In the golden years, Cate Sayers was one half of Melbourne couple It.
Now the estranged wife of former PwC managing director, Carlton chairman and volatile businessman Luke Sayers says she has become something of an outsider.
“Cate was ostracized and avoided by those she knew and had relationships with, who were ostracized and avoided by the AFL, Carlton, the AFL game in general, and Luke and others who knew Cate,” her lawyers wrote in court documents filed as part of an explosive lawsuit filed by Cate Sayers against her husband.
The entire potentially bruising legal battle apparently hinges on a photo of Luke Sayers’ penis; The photo briefly appeared online last January in an X post tagging a general manager from Carlton sponsor Bupa. Luke Sayers has since left the Blues, despite being found not guilty in the AFL investigation, and rebranded his eponymous consultancy firm Sayers Group as Tenet Advisory.
But Cate Sayers claims the damage to her reputation was more personal. In January, she took legal action against Luke Sayers in the Supreme Court of Victoria, claiming he had defamed her and breached her trust and privacy with a legal representation she made to the AFL during its investigation into the indecent photo scandal.
The legal team, led by chief slanderer Sue Chrysanthou and frequent collaborator Giles George, sent a statement of concern to Luke Sayers before Christmas but received no response, prompting them to commence proceedings.
Details of Cate Sayers’ allegations were suppressed by the Supreme Court of Victoria for weeks, despite her legal team and the media wanting them to come to light. But on Thursday afternoon the court issued its statement of claim, hours before Carlton started the season with a 63-point defeat of the Sydney Swans.
Cate Sayers claims that this statement defames her because it implies: “Cate suffers from mental illness and is prescribed medication on a regular basis by her doctors, such that Mr. Sayers’ denials regarding the publication of the explicit photo on account X cannot be relied upon.”
He claims Luke Sayers caused serious damage to his reputation by “shamelessly publishing” information that falsely portrayed him as unstable, unstable and suffering from mental illness.
“The information was used to present him as unstable, unreliable, unstable, mentally disabled, and/or a living risk to his own safety,” court documents allege.
The statement of claim also alleges that Luke Sayers corroborated his evidence to the AFL by revealing details of his wife’s private life, including her sexual history.
Sayers said the statements amounted to a breach of trust and caused “significant distress, hurt and embarrassment”. He wants compensation.
Luke Sayers has not yet entered a statement of defense and his spokespeople declined to comment.
While Cate Sayers claims she has been ostracized and the subject of “significant gossip” within the AFL community in Victoria, her estranged husband remains an influential figure despite last year’s scandal.
A gentle optimist and relentless networker, Luke Sayers’ connections are Melbourne’s best expression of how small a town can be, a town where the lines between spouse and business partner are often blurred. Sayers Group may have been rebranded, but Luke remains as managing director, although he reduced his stake to just 1.3 per cent late last year.
Helloworld boss and former Liberal treasurer Andrew Burnes was a key supporter of the Sayers Group. So are billionaire trucking mogul Lindsay Fox and her son David.
Radio host and advertiser Russel Howcroft, who was brought to PwC by Sayers and then to his new firm, is a partner in the firm and increased his stake late last year. The couple are regular lunch companions. Square Peg co-founder Paul Bassat has been Commissioner of the Australian Football League (AFL) since 2012; his brother Andrew is a major investor in Sayers’ new team and chairman of the St Kilda football club.
Hawthorn chairman Ian Silk is chairman of Tenet Advisory & Investments. Former Labor MP Jaala Pulford also sits on the board. ALP apparatchik Paul Howes, a senior trade unionist and KPMG consultant, took over as the new CEO as part of Tenet’s post-Sayers rebranding. Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who was once Carlton’s number one ticket holder and had Sayers on speed dial, had been talking to him less recently.
But the remarkable resilience of Sayers’ network was further demonstrated at a “thank you” lunch held at luxury dining establishment France-Soir in South Yarra last year after the scandal had settled. Guests included Daniel Andrews, Eddie McGuire, former Qantas boss Alan Joyce and former AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.
The only woman present was Sharon McCrohan, Sayers’ communications consultant; He was a hard-nosed media man with formidable connections and pedigree thanks to his relationships with various state and federal Labor leaders and the CFMEU, where he became a close confidant of the union’s now disgraced boss John Setka.
A few months after the Sayers investigation ended, McCrohan took a new job as the AFL’s general manager of corporate affairs and communications. Although the outside headhunter wasn’t on Temple’s initial shortlist, he got the job because senior officials were so impressed with his work for Sayers. Australian Financial Review reported.
McCrohan’s work for Sayers was impressive. He advised him on the tax evasion scandal that engulfed PwC in 2023. While Sayers was liable if one of the firm’s partners misused classified government information, he denied any knowledge of the wrongdoing.
Three years later, Sayers is at the center of a much more personal scandal. Taking the matter to court will drive a wedge between a family that was once close-knit. Two of the couple’s four daughters (Bronte and Claudia Sayers) publicly supported their father and promised to present evidence to support his defense. Sources close to Sayers have suggested he would never let it get to this point.
It would also cause serious inconvenience to the AFL, whose internal investigation into Sayers is now subject to intense scrutiny, and the Melbourne power players who stand by it. None of these people want their private discussions to be subpoenaed or broadcast in court.
The flaccid penis shared on Sayer’s account spent only 13 minutes on the internet. The damage will last for years.
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Kishor Napier-Raman is senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He previously worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliament press gallery.Connect with: X or email.
