‘Honoured': Guy opens up on Swift tour
Guy Sebastian has revealed how excited he was to support global pop star Taylor Swift on her 2013 tour while taking the stand in the trial of his former manager, who is accused of embezzling $640,000 from Mr Sebastian.
Titus Emanuel Day is standing trial for allegedly embezzling $640,000 of Mr Sebastian's royalties and performance fees.
This includes the alleged failure to remit $187,000 to Mr Sebastian for performances fees as a support act for Swift on her 2013 Red tour of Australia. Titus Emanuel Day is standing trial for allegedly embezzling $640,000 of Guy Sebastian's royalties and performance fees. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia
It's alleged that Mr Sebastian was also not paid for corporate gigs, performances at the Sydney Opera House, a Big Bash game and Dreamworld and for singing at weddings in Italy and Sydney.
Mr Day has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of embezzlement as a clerk or servant and one count of attempting to dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception.
He has denied doing anything fraudulent or dishonest. Mr Sebastian was a support act for Taylor Swift on her 2013 Red tour. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia
Mr Sebastian told the NSW District Court on Wednesday that he was 'very excited' when Mr Day told him he'd be opening for Swift on her Red tour of Australia in December 2013.
'I was alerted to the fact that I was to be supporting Taylor Swift, which obviously is a big deal – Taylor's a huge artist, and it was a massive get to get that tour,' Mr Sebastian told the court.
'I was really honoured.'
Supporting Swift was unlike tours of his own, he said, which at times 'weren't fruitful', as he had to cover all the costs.
'This was an opportunity where it was a guaranteed sum I was being paid,' he explained.
Mr Sebastian told the court that he 'wanted to do a really good job' and had even flown in a friend of his to perform alongside him.
'I really made that band as slamming as I possibly could and wanted to do a really good job of this,' he said.
Mr Sebastian was going to be paid about $500,000 for the tour but had to pay costs of about $180,000 that included the price of pulling the 'slamming' band together.
The court was previously told about $494,000 was paid into an account of Mr Day's 6 Degrees management company by a booking agent following the Swift tour. Supporting Swift was a big 'honour', Mr Sebastian said. NewsWire / Richard Dobson Credit: NCA NewsWire
The Crown alleges Mr Day was entitled to a $59,000 commission, leaving Mr Sebastian the remaining $435,000.
However, Mr Day allegedly failed to remit $187,000, with Mr Sebastian only paid about $247,5000.
Mr Sebastian told the court on Wednesday that money was supposed to be remitted within a week or two of any performance.
'Within seven or 14 days, but it was clearly indicated to us when the $247,000 was transferred that there was going to be a reconciliation on weeks of the whole tour … we were told that the full reconciliation would be done really soon,' Mr Sebastian told the court.
He claimed there were several attempts from his bookkeepers to try to understand the reconciliation for the performances in order to complete a tax return; however, this allegedly was 'never received'.
In the years following, Mr Sebastian said he 'assumed it was taken care of'. Mr Day allegedly failed to remit $187,000 to Mr Sebastian following the 2013 Swift tour. NewsWire / Richard Dobson Credit: NCA NewsWire
Mr Day's barrister, Thomas Woods, last week told the court that there would be 'no dispute' that on some occasions his client should have transferred money onto Mr Sebastian 'but did not'.
'For many of the charges, the real question is not going to be whether my client failed to transfer the money to Mr Sebastian but whether his failure to do that was criminal,' Mr Woods said.
Mr Sebastian signed with Mr Day at his management company 6 Degrees three years after he won Australian Idol, having previously worked with him at Mr Day's former agency, 22 Management.
Despite initially being happy with the arrangement, Mr Sebastian and his team were often chasing statements and clarification on payments before he told Mr Day he was leaving his management in 2017, the court was previously told.
Mr Sebastian launched Federal Court proceedings against Mr Day the following year. He in turn filed a counterclaim.
The trial continues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
8 hours ago
- West Australian
City of Vincent curbs e-scooter rentals following the death of 51-year-old pedestrian Thanh Phan in Perth
Another council has pulled the pin on e-scooter rentals a day after the City of Perth suspended the service following the death of 51-year-old pedestrian Thanh Phan. Mr Phan was allegedly struck down from behind by an intoxicated rider in Perth's CBD about 8.40pm on Saturday. He suffered a brain bleed and was rushed to hospital, but died from his injuries days later. British tourist Alicia Kemp, 24, now faces charges of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm and dangerous driving occasioning death after Mr Phan died. Police allege she was under the influence of alcohol with a 26-year-old passenger on board, before she hit Mr Phan. The City of Vincent's decision to suspend e-scooter hires while it reviews the service comes a day after its neighbour, the City of Perth, suspended the service in response to the fatality. Vincent informed its residents e-scooters were no longer be available for hire until further notice and all hireable e-scooters would be removed from the streets within the next 48 hours. Vincent Mayor Alison Xamon said they were very saddened to hear about Mr Phan's death. 'Like our neighbours at Perth, we have decided to temporarily suspend our trial so we can review the safety of the hireable e-scooters and consider ways to improve this service or if it even needs to continue,' she said. 'We will continue to work closely with our service providers on potential changes to their operations here in Vincent.' Ms Xamon said public safety was a top priority and they would consider if safety-related measures such as time-of-day restrictions could be implemented on e-scooters. Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page told NewsWire at least one person a day was admitted to WA's trauma unit with major injuries caused from e-scooters. Dr Page said the number of patients with really serious traumatic injuries from e-scooters had been increasing and they were seeing people being admitted with serious head injuries, bone fractures, life altering injuries and sometimes fatal injuries. 'It's really a scourge in terms of injuries in our society and the problem with these council endorsed private hire e-scooters in city centres is people are hopping on without any experience riding e scooters,' he said. 'They're often intoxicated. They might be riding at night. They might not be wearing proper protection and so the chance for something to go wrong is, is very, very high.' While the AMAWA are not calling for a total ban of e-scooters, Dr Page said hire schemes endorsed by councils to activate city centres and bring vibrancy were a risk 'The question really has to be, does the benefit outweigh the risks when we're seeing deaths and many injuries?' he said. 'They are dangerous you've got plenty of evidence from other cities around the world, other countries around the world, from across WA that these schemes are not very safe.'
Perth Now
8 hours ago
- Perth Now
City of Vincent curbs e-scooter rentals following the death of 51-year-old pedestrian Thanh Phan in Perth
Another council has pulled the pin on e-scooter rentals a day after the City of Perth suspended the service following the death of 51-year-old pedestrian Thanh Phan. Mr Phan was allegedly struck down from behind by an intoxicated rider in Perth's CBD about 8.40pm on Saturday. He suffered a brain bleed and was rushed to hospital, but died from his injuries days later. British tourist Alicia Kemp, 24, now faces charges of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm and dangerous driving occasioning death after Mr Phan died. Camera Icon Perth father Thanh Phan, 51 was allegedly struck from behind and killed by a rider who was under the influence of alcohol. ABC Credit: ABC Police allege she was under the influence of alcohol with a 26-year-old passenger on board, before she hit Mr Phan. The City of Vincent's decision to suspend e-scooter hires while it reviews the service comes a day after its neighbour, the City of Perth, suspended the service in response to the fatality. Vincent informed its residents e-scooters were no longer be available for hire until further notice and all hireable e-scooters would be removed from the streets within the next 48 hours. Camera Icon A statement from City of Vincent says e-scooters would no longer be available for hire in the local government area until further notice. NewsWire/ Glenn Campbell Credit: News Corp Australia Vincent Mayor Alison Xamon said they were very saddened to hear about Mr Phan's death. 'Like our neighbours at Perth, we have decided to temporarily suspend our trial so we can review the safety of the hireable e-scooters and consider ways to improve this service or if it even needs to continue,' she said. 'We will continue to work closely with our service providers on potential changes to their operations here in Vincent.' Ms Xamon said public safety was a top priority and they would consider if safety-related measures such as time-of-day restrictions could be implemented on e-scooters. Camera Icon AMA WA president Michael Page says at least one person a day was being admitted to WA's trauma unit with major injuries caused by e-scooters. Supplied Credit: Supplied Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page told NewsWire at least one person a day was admitted to WA's trauma unit with major injuries caused from e-scooters. Dr Page said the number of patients with really serious traumatic injuries from e-scooters had been increasing and they were seeing people being admitted with serious head injuries, bone fractures, life altering injuries and sometimes fatal injuries. 'It's really a scourge in terms of injuries in our society and the problem with these council endorsed private hire e-scooters in city centres is people are hopping on without any experience riding e scooters,' he said. 'They're often intoxicated. They might be riding at night. They might not be wearing proper protection and so the chance for something to go wrong is, is very, very high.' While the AMAWA are not calling for a total ban of e-scooters, Dr Page said hire schemes endorsed by councils to activate city centres and bring vibrancy were a risk 'The question really has to be, does the benefit outweigh the risks when we're seeing deaths and many injuries?' he said. 'They are dangerous you've got plenty of evidence from other cities around the world, other countries around the world, from across WA that these schemes are not very safe.'
Perth Now
8 hours ago
- Perth Now
Reason Aussies are working multiple jobs
The post-Covid boom in the number of Aussies working multiple jobs continues as higher cost of living pressures means more workers are taking on a second gig. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that in the March quarter there were 963,100 Aussies – or 6.5 per cent of the workforce – who had more than one job. While this is actually down from the previous quarter where 999,500 Australians held multiple jobs, it is still a sharp uptick in workers looking to diversify their incomes compared with the years prior to Covid, where around 5 to 6 per cent of Aussies took on a second gig. Seek senior economist Blair Chapman said the spike in cost-of-living pressures from inflation meant more Australians needed to take on extra work. 'We've really seen cost-of-living, especially for employee households, increase quite a lot over the last couple of years,' he said. Women are more likely to take on multiple roles compared to men. NewsWire / David Mariuz Credit: News Corp Australia 'If you've got a mortgage, those repayments have increased quite a bit over the last couple of years so I suspect people have sought a second job just to reach the higher cost of living recently.' Australians are holding onto their second job despite the overall unemployment rate holding firm in recent months, around the 4.1 per cent mark. The main driving force behind this trend is underemployment meaning workers are getting fewer hours from their primary employer than they'd like. 'We are seeing more people being employed in industries where we tend to see a lot of multiple job holdings,' Mr Chapman said. 'For example, we've seen healthcare and social assistance grow and that is one of the industries where multiple job holdings are most common. Aussies in the healthcare sector are most likely to take on multiple jobs. NewsWire / David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia 'That comes down to the nature of the work, where you have shift work and one business may not be able to provide all the hours an employee wants so the individual has to work across multiple sites to get the hours they are desiring.' Many of these multiple job holders are Australians aged between 20-24, with women more likely to hold a second role over males. In contrast older Australians aged between 60 to 64 are the least likely to hold a second role. 'When we look at a lot of the multiple job holders, they tend to be younger. Maybe it is a university aged person who can't work full-time but can work nights and weekends,' Mr Chapman said. 'While maybe it is not the same job but for them it is probably good they can work multiple jobs with flexible hours.'
