Taylor Auerbach was asked whether he had ever used company funds for his own benefit – he said no, besides ‘about $30’.
However, Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson SC drew the court’s attention to a letter of apology Mr Auerbach had penned to Channel Seven before he resigned.
In that letter, Mr Auerbach apologised for his conduct and for spending ‘thousands’ of corporate dollars.
‘In a drunken daze, I put thousands of dollars on a corporate credit card for something that had nothing to do with work,’ he had written.
He told the court that was the worst day of his life but still would not acknowledge that his ‘$30’ response was incorrect.
Mr Auerbach was then asked about a video he once uploaded on social media.
In that video, he could be seen grinning while destroying a set of golf clubs, worth about $2000, belonging to his former Spotlight boss Steve Jackson.
‘You particularly hate Steve Jackson?’ Mr Richardson asked.
‘Yes,’ Mr Auerbach replied.
He then described parts of the video, after it was played before the court.
‘You broke some [golf clubs] over your knee,’ Mr Richardson said.
‘Yes,’ Mr Auerbach replied.
‘And you display absolute hatred towards Mr Jackson?’ he asked.
Mr Auerbach said ‘no’, and explained it was a parody of a video uploaded to social media by Spotlight boss Mark Llewellyn.
‘It’s a parody of a video that Mark Llewellyn had recorded where he was making those actions with his face … It’s important to watch them side-by-side.’
Mr Richardson continued: ‘You are destroying his golf clubs next to a caption that said, “Merry Christmas, sue me”.’
Mr Auerbach denied the video was a sign of his hatred towards Mr Jackson, to which Mr Richardson said: ‘That’s just ridiculous.’
Mr Richardson then asked whether he resented the fact that Mr Jackson was promoted over him, and asked if he blamed him when Seven didn’t renew his contract.
The barrister continued: ‘He had replaced you?’
Mr Richardson asked whether Mr Auerbach had been ‘backgrounding’ journalists against Mr Jackson over the last few weeks.