Singer Guy Sebastian’s former manager will be delivered an almost-$1 million compensation payout before he faces a second trial on dozens of embezzlement charges.
A court today ordered the NSW government to pay Titus Day $960,000 by January 15 ahead of a retrial that was scheduled to start in May.
Day was convicted by a jury in 2022 on 34 counts of embezzlement and sentenced to up to four years in jail.
But the verdicts were thrown out after an appeals court found prosecutors made inappropriate comments to the jury during a closing address.
Day managed Sebastian via his company 6 Degrees between 2009 and 2017 before their professional relationship ended.
He continues to deny allegations he embezzled almost $900,000 owed to Australian Idol winner through royalties, performance and ambassador fees.
NSW District Court judge Mark Williams ordered the Crown to pay Day for “costs thrown away”, being work he paid lawyers to undertake that was wasted as a result of prosecutors’ errors.
The court also said the retrial should be stayed until the amount was paid, setting a deadline of January 15 to allow preparation time.
In response to prosecutors’ protests about the tight timeframe, Judge Williams replied: “It can’t take the state government more than a month to write a cheque.”
During the trial and appeal, Day racked up legal fees calculated to have been about a million dollars, the court was told.
Initially, Day was seeking the Crown pay just under $1,180,000, while it offered $296,000 – a sum that was incrementally increased to $814,000.
A retrial is due to commence on May 26, 2025 and run for at least four weeks.
Sebastian rose to prominence as the inaugural winner of Australian Idol in 2003 before going on to release a series of chart-topping songs and albums.
More recently, he has appeared on TV screens as a judge on The X Factor and coach on The Voice Australia.
