Luke Sayers apologises as ex-wife's lewd photo defamation case settles

A protracted legal fight between former Carlton president Luke Sayers and his ex-wife over a lewd photo has reached settlement, with Mr Sayers apologising and acknowledging his former partner never posted the photo.

The image of Mr Sayers's penis was posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account in January 2025, leading him to step down as Carlton president.

Mr Sayers denied posting the photo, saying his account was hacked.

His then-wife Cafe sued him for defamation a year later, alleging he provided a statutory declaration to AFL investigators falsely stating that she was responsible for accessing the account and publishing the picture.

In the Supreme Court on Friday, Mr Sayers's legal counsel Sandip Mukerjea read a statement from Mr Sayers saying he apologised "unreservedly" to his wife and acknowledged the "hurt and harm" she had faced.

He said he accepted she did not post the photo.

Mr Sayers was not at the brief hearing.

In a statement outside court, Ms Sayers said she was pleased with the outcome and had started the legal proceedings to establish the truth.

"I acknowledge Luke's public apology to me today, including his clear statement that I was not responsible for posting an explicit image on his X account," she said.

"This brings to a close a painful and difficult chapter that began with extraordinary claims made about me that were accepted without challenge by powerful institutions and powerful people."

She said she'd been overwhelmed by the support of many women whose reputations had been treated as "expendable" and thanked them.

She wouldn't disclose if there was a financial settlement as part of the deal.

High-profile saga comes to an end

The agreement brings an end to a very public saga that had played out across the media, especially in football-mad Melbourne, over the past year.

Earlier this year, Mr Sayers had applied to have the case transferred to the Federal Circuit and Family Court, a move that would have effectively prevented media reporting of the case.

He failed in that bid, but Friday’s settlement means that any more details about what happened between the couple will not be aired.

The photo posted on Mr Sayers's X account on January 8 last year — while he was in Italy with his then-wife and daughters — was quickly deleted, but not before it was screenshotted by other social media users.

In court documents, Mr Sayers claimed the post was made while he was in the shower.

An inquiry launched by the AFL cleared Mr Sayers of breaching AFL rules and found, on the available evidence, that access to his account "was compromised".

Ms Sayers had argued her ex-husband made numerous false claims in his statutory declaration to the AFL, including information about her mental health and sexual history, and that she was residing in the same apartment as Mr Sayers at the time of the controversial X post.

She also argued the AFL investigation was inadequate because she was never interviewed, nor was Mr Sayers's phone forensically examined.

In response, Mr Sayers denied leaking details of his statutory declaration to the media and accused his wife of accessing his phone in March 2025 and viewing and copying confidential material.

Mr Sayers is a former chief executive of PwC and was in charge when the firm was embroiled in a tax scandal after a staff member misused confidential government information.