Luke Sayers, former Carlton Football Club president and PwC CEO, is at the centre of a defamation lawsuit filed by his estranged wife, Cate Sayers, following a lewd photo posted on his X account in January 2025. The image, which showed his penis, was posted during a family holiday in Italy and tagged a senior executive of a major Carlton sponsor. It was deleted after 15 minutes, with Sayers claiming his account was hacked.
In court documents, Cate Sayers alleges that the AFL cleared her husband of wrongdoing within two weeks, based on a statutory declaration he signed that she says wrongly blamed her for the post. The declaration, she claims, contained false information about her sexual history, mental health, and medical history, including accusations that she suffers from bipolar and multi personality disorder and refuses medication.
Cate Sayers' lawyers argue that the AFL investigation was inadequate and not independent, as she was not interviewed, and no forensic examination of Sayers' phone or X account was conducted. They claim the AFL failed to follow its own Respect and Responsibility Investigations Protocol, instead working closely with Carlton to exonerate Sayers.
The statutory declaration, which has not been released to the media, allegedly contained 11 false claims, including that Cate Sayers was raped as a schoolchild by her teacher and his wife. Luke Sayers' lawyers have yet to respond to the latest claims but maintain that the declaration was true and required for the AFL investigation.
The case, set to be heard in the Victorian Supreme Court, could expose the AFL's internal investigation processes, which have been criticised as self-serving and opaque. Cate Sayers is suing for defamation and invasion of privacy, seeking damages for the reputational harm caused by the publication of the declaration.
