Manager responds to Taylor Swift claim
Titus Emanuel Day is standing trial in the NSW District Court in Sydney where he has denied embezzling more than $600,000 in royalties and performance fees from the Australian Idol winner.
Mr Day's trial has entered its final stages, with his barrister telling the court during his closing submissions that the manager had made accounting errors, withheld money for what he claimed were unpaid commissions owed to him by Mr Sebastian and invested other money for his client.
The former high-profile manager has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of embezzlement as a clerk or servant.
He has also pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting to dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception relating to allegations he lied to liquidators after his management company, 6 Degrees, became insolvent.
'It is not implausible that my client made a wrong assumption in relation to these counts in the indictment … That he made a mistake is not fanciful or far fetched,' Mr Day's barrister Thomas Woods told the jury on Wednesday. Guy Sebastian's former manager Titus Day is fighting the allegations. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia Pop star Guy Sebastian supported Taylor Swift on her 2013 tour of Australia. NewsWire/John Appleyard. Credit: News Corp Australia
It has now been more than five years since Mr Day was arrested at his Sydney home.
Mr Woods told the court that Mr Sebastian did not complain to police until 2020 despite some of the allegations relating to work done in 2013.
One of the charges relates to allegations that Mr Day embezzled $187,000 in performance fees earnt by Mr Sebastian as a support act on Taylor Swift's 2013 tour of Australia.
He is also alleged to have embezzled money from private performances and corporate gigs in Singapore and Sydney in 2014.
'A substantial source of your doubt on these counts would be that Mr Sebastian did not complain about Mr Day stealing or embezzling this money – almost $300,000 in total – until mid 2020,' Mr Woods said.
'You know these counts relate to events in 2013 and 2014. You might think that's a significant delay.
'Mr Sebastian accepted in his evidence that he never complained about the asserted non-payment of the monies until 2020 … Mr Sebastian said 'I had no idea they were missing'.'
'You might think if all this money truly was missing, it wouldn't have taken the better part of a decade for Mr Sebastian to make a complaint.' Mr Day and Mr Sebastian before their split. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia
Mr Woods previously told the court that performance fees from the Swift tour were used to purchase shares on Mr Sebastian's behalf.
Mr Sebastian, in his evidence, described the claims as 'completely fabricated'.
Mr Woods said the investment wasn't 'successful' and there was a theme of Mr Day not always 'picking a winner'.
'However disappointing it must have been for everyone who invested in the company, the question for you to decide is whether the Crown has proven beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Day embezzled those monies,' Mr Woods said.
'And you might think he can't have embezzled those monies if he invested in a company on Mr Sebastian's behalf.'
During his closing address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC alleged that Mr Day had fabricated invoices to demand payment from Mr Sebastian.
Mr Hatfield said Mr Day had displayed a 'consciousness of guilt' by falsifying the invoices.
However Mr Woods argued that evidence of that was 'feeble'.
He said the allegations rested on an email from 12 years ago that Mr Sebastian said he had not received.
The trial is due to conclude with Mr Woods' closing submissions before the jury will retire to consider its verdicts.
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