Former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach claims Bruce Lehrmann leaked Brittany Higgins’ personal text messages

Taylor Auerbach claims Bruce Lehrmann leaked Brittany Higgins’ personal text messages to Spotlight after they went on a two-night bender.

Former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach claims Bruce Lehrmann leaked Brittany Higgins’ personal text messages to the program after the producer and Mr Lehrmann went on a two-night bender that included partying with sex workers.

The untested claims are contained in an affidavit that was tendered to the Federal Court during a hearing presided over by Justice Michael Lee on Tuesday night.

The claims involve two nights in January, 2023, after Auerbach spent $10,000 on Thai massages in December, 2022, without the knowledge or consent of Channel 7, on a corporate credit card.

The material is untested and Mr Auerbach will be cross examined on Thursday after Justice Lee announced Channel Ten had won its bid to reopen the case.

The alleged two-night bender included a visit to a Sydney brothel where a group of men, including Mr Lehrmann, spent time with the sex workers.

At the time, Mr Lehrmann had been informed he was facing a new rape charge in Toowoomba, but it had not yet become public.

It did become public around a week later, but Mr Lehrmann’s name was suppressed – information that Spotlight was aware of before he sat down for an interview for the June, 2023 broadcast.

All outcalls to escorts and visits to brothels occurred without the knowledge or consent of any Seven executives.

Corporate credit cards were not used after the first Thai masseuse duo were called to Taylor Auerbach’s Elizabeth Bay apartment.

Instead, the sex workers were paid for privately.

November, 2022: ‘I pay you cash’ revealed last month that a Spotlight credit card was used by an employee, who has since left Network Seven, to book a masseuse for Mr Lehrmann in November, 2022.

The employee was subsequently identified in the media as Mr Auerbach.

The credit charge was without the knowledge or consent of executive producer Mark Llewellyn, who counselled him after the incident.

However, the bombshell affidavit reveals the total amount charged to the account was much more than previously known.

The affidavit claims the total amount spent was not $2,940 but $10,000.

At the time, it prompted attempts by the Spotlight team to reverse the transaction when the employee owned up to using the credit card to pay for the masseuse.

Spotlight producer Steve Jackson, who was not present on the night and did not authorise or have any knowledge of the use of the credit card, then suggested the employee ask the Thai masseuse to reverse the transactions the next day and “pay cash instead” to remove it from the credit card, in keeping with the network’s expense policies.

Mr Jackson, who was appointed as the NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb’s new spin doctor before the contract was scrapped, suggested to the employee at the time the masseuse be paid “a bonus” of $250 to facilitate the different payment method.

During the text exchange, Mr Jackson provided the Seven employee with a Google translation of how to tell the worker in Thai: “I pay you cash instead.”

Defamation threat

After the story broke last month, Mr Lehrmann then told The Australian newspaper that he was in Sydney and did meet with Seven producers on the night in question, but insisted any suggestion he got a massage was “untrue”.

“It’s an untrue and bizarre story from a disgruntled ex-­Network Seven producer,” he said. “Network Seven has only ever covered reasonable travel for filming and accommodation.”

Those comments prompted Mr Auerbach to seek legal advice.

The legal salvo, first revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald, is detailed in a concerns notice sent that complains “false” statements have been made regarding Mr Auerbach.

“The press statement is likely to devastate Mr Auerbach’s professional reputation,” Ms Giles said.

She continued that Mr Lehrmann’s press statement conveyed a defamatory imputation that “Taylor Auerbach lied to the press about Bruce Lehrmann being bought a massage by a Seven Network employee.”