The colossal cost of the Bruce Lehrmann trials

The judgment in the defamation case brought by former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten and its former employee Lisa Wilkinson will be handed down today.

Lehrmann instigated the case following an interview broadcast in February 2021 on The Project featuring his former colleague Brittany Higgins, who alleged she was raped by a colleague. Lehrmann, who denies the allegation, was not named until later, but he argues he was made identifiable in the interview.

In the latest instalment of Paint by Numbers, Crikey’s series about the big issues of the day told via the numbers, we break down the mass of court cases — and their expenses — that have roiled Australia’s political and media landscape ever since.

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Number of court cases and inquiries relating to the allegations against Lehrmann: 17 (six ongoing and 11 concluded separately)

Number of defamation cases brought by Lehrmann against media companies: 3

Amount News Corp paid Lehrmann to settle: $295,000

Amount the ABC paid Lehrmann to settle: $150,000 

Amount Seven allegedly spent on Thai massages for Lehrmann and others while negotiating the interview Lehrmann conducted with Seven’s Spotlight program: $10,000 

Amount Seven allegedly paid, according to former producer Taylor Auerbach, to cover Lehrmann’s “expenditure on cocaine and prostitutes”: $750 (Lehrmann denies this)

Total cost of the case brought by Lehrmann against Network Ten: at least $10 million

Amount spent on Lehrmann’s rent by Seven: at least $4,000 per month for a year

Number of viewers of Spotlight‘s interview with Bruce Lehrmann: approx 600,000

Calls Walter Sofronoff KC made to journalists during the inquiry he was leading into Lehrmann’s prosecution: 65

Number of calls, of those 65, Sofronof made to The Australian: 55