Guy Sebastian had so much money coming in from so many sources the music star says he did not notice almost $1million missing from his bank account for years.
The Australian Idol winner and judge on The Voice had completely trusted his manager to keep him informed of his various incomes and pay him what he earned.
That trust is now gone and Sebastian’s manager Titus Day is accused of embezzling not less than $886,175.10 from his marque client over seven years.
Day is facing trial before a jury in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court where Sebastian has been giving evidence against him this week.
The 49-year-old celebrity agent has pleaded not guilty to 50 charges of embezzlement as a clerk or servant, and 50 alternative counts of stealing.
The charges relate to allegedly missing royalties, performance fees and payment for an ambassadorship that Sebastian earned between 2013 and 2020 but says he did not receive.
Day is accused of ripping off the Battle Scars singer 50 times for individual sums ranging from $361.34 to $187,524.42 by not transferring funds into his ‘Guytunes’ account.
That top figure comes out of the $494,360 fee Sebastian was paid to support Taylor Swift on the four-city Australian leg of her 2013 world tour, which should have been among the most memorable performances – and paydays – of his career.
Sebastian claims another performance fee of $125,176.06 was never remitted, as well as an ambassadorship worth $57,086.93.
The court case has pitted two men who were once extremely close against each other and dragged in their wives, who had also been friends. And it has revealed Sebastian could command more than $50,000 to play a wedding.
There is no hiding the fame of the Crown’s star witness, with prosecutor David Morters SC describing him to the jury as a recording artist and performer ‘whose name you’re probably all familiar with’.
While it is Day who is on trial, Sebastian has been forced to reveal intimate details of his finances, including sometimes astronomical fees for performances and so-called ‘contra’ deals.
Sebastian said he never had a formal contract with Day and only became aware of an international copyright deal he signed in 2013 two years after he sacked him in 2017.
Morters told the jury Sebastian had not noticed the allegedly missing payments which went into accounts controlled by Day while he had money coming in from so many clients.
Defence barrister Dominic Toomey SC said Day could account for all the money and suggested Sebastian might have an ulterior motive for pursuing his client via police.
Sebastian had given about three hours of evidence on Wednesday before Judge Peter Zahra fell ill and the case was adjourned until next week.
The 40-year-old, who is in the middle of a national tour promoting his latest album and appeared to be concert-fit, tested positive to Covid on Thursday.
Sebastian and Day: The early years
Sebastian told the court he first rose to prominence after winning Australian Idol in 2003. That title brought a five-album deal with BMG Records (now owned by Sony) and a three-year contract with Caplice management.
When the Caplice contract ended he joined 22 Management, owned by agent Sean Anderson, after meeting Day through his wife Courtney who was an artists and repertoire representative with Sony.
Sebastian said from the start he dealt almost exclusively with Day, who is a qualified lawyer and music industry specialist.
‘I thought it was actually his company for a while until be alerted me otherwise,’ he said. ‘I had very little to do with Sean Anderson as far as my carer went.’
Sebastian had about nine months to run on his 22 Management contract in July 2009 when Day approached him with a proposal to leave Anderson.
‘Titus said that he was starting a new company, a management company, and asked if I would go with him to join that company and I said yes,’ Sebastian told the court.
‘He would refer to me as his foundation client, a client that he needed to start a new company.’
Sebastian strikes out with Day
Sebastian, who was twice reminded to speak in a loud and clear voice as he answered questions, said his career was going well when he left 22 Management but he was not entirely comfortable discussing his success so publicly.
‘I was right in the middle of releasing music, I believe it was the Like It Like That album,’ he said. ‘It was quite a busy time.
‘I was signed to Sony Music, I’d had numerous number one records, I think it was two number one albums, two number one singles and some top five, top ten singles.
‘I was very proud of what I had achieved at that time.’
After negotiations, Sebastian agreed to pay Anderson a 15 per cent commission and Day 5 per cent until his old contract expired in April 2010.
As part of the termination Sebastian agreed to perform for free at Anderson’s 40th birthday party.
Sebastian did not sign a contract with Day’s company 6 Degrees but understood a draft document was essentially the same as his previous deal with 22 Management.
He could not recall if he ever sent the draft to his lawyer and said it did not reflect the arrangement he and Day reached.
Sebastian said he never accepted a ‘trailing commission’ clause in their arrangement which would allow Day to take a proportion of his earnings if they ever split.
The ARIA award-winner described a trailing commission as suitable for a performer such as a busker who had not yet established themselves.
‘I believed that it wasn’t relevant to me because whoever I signed to was earning money from day dot,’ he told the court.
When Anderson learnt there had been no trailing commission clause in his contract with Sebastian he had said, ‘Who the f*** agreed to that?’
Sebastian said he had not sighted or signed most contracts with companies using his services and rarely paid much attention when he did.
‘One of the benefits of my manager was he was a contract lawyer, so I trusted that if he put something in front of me he wouldn’t do so unless it was ready to be signed,’ he said.
Sebastian generally left Day to handle ‘pretty much everything that I did professionally in the music industry and with television work.’
‘He would be responsible for organising gigs and booking them, booking tours, negotiating with the record label at certain times, basically everything that I did professionally was done by Mr Day and 6 Degrees.’
Sebastian brought plenty of business to 6 Degrees and after the singer paid costs such as band members’ wages Day took a commission of 20 per cent plus GST.