Jurors have begun debating the fate of former manager Guy Sebastian, who is accused of embezzling nearly $900,000 from the pop star.
The jury in the case of ex-manager Guy Sebastian began deliberations and will soon decide whether the pop star was the victim of an embezzlement scandal.
Titus Day is accused of misappropriating nearly $900,000 in music, performance and ambassadorial fees allegedly owed to the singer.
After seven weeks of hearing evidence from various witnesses, including Mr Sebastian, his wife Jules, accountants and the police officer in charge of the investigation, NSW District Court Judge Tim Hartelmann SC summed up the Crown and defense case on Thursday.
The court was told that the jury could only find Mr. Day guilty if the Crown could prove beyond reasonable doubt that he deliberately and dishonestly withheld money owed to Mr. Sebastian.
“It is not enough for the Crown to prove that he [Mr Day] really had no right to dispose of money the way he did, ”Jude Hartlemann told jurors.
“The Crown must prove beyond reasonable doubt that he knew he had no right to use the money as he did at the time.”
Judge Gartelmann said the Crown argued that Mr Day was a lawyer and experienced celebrity manager who always knew what he was doing managing Mr Sebastian’s money.
“The Crown says the defendant misappropriated the money because he either withdrew it or transferred it from a trust account [his business] 6 degrees and used it for purposes other than Mr. Sebastian’s benefits,” Judge Hartelemann said.
The defense lawyer representing Mr. Day argued that he was entitled to reimbursement of expenses he incurred representing Mr. Sebastian.
“The defendant, according to the defense, clearly believed that he was owed money,” said Judge Hartlemann.
“The defense acknowledged that the defendant evaded [some of] it was about payments … the defense argues that this was because Mr. Sebastian owed money to the accused.
The court was told that Mr Day also used some of the money allegedly owed to Mr Sebastian, including about $39,000 from the British and Irish Lions rugby tour and about $187,000 from Taylor Swift’s opening act, to buying shares on your behalf in a company. called My Medical Records (MMR).
“In the defense memo, Mr. Sebastian claimed that the money to buy the MMR shares came from his bank, HSBC. [bank] account, and that the emails showed that the other came from a CommSec account,” Judge Gartelmann said.
“The protection does not flag any accounts or reveal emails that have ever been created.”
In his final address to the jury, Judge Hartelmann said that while many claims and counterclaims were made during the trial, it was only the jury’s job to decide whether the Crown proved its position beyond a reasonable doubt.
“There was a lot of arguing about who owes what money to whom, but this is ultimately not about that,” he said.
The jury is now locked in a room on the roof of the Downing Center court complex in Sydney trying 47 separate charges to which Mr Day has pleaded not guilty.