Luke Sayers accused of ‘shamelessly’ blaming wife for lewd picture

Former Carlton president Luke Sayers allegedly told the AFL his estranged wife was “mentally disturbed” as he sought to distance himself from an embarrassing lewd picture scandal.

The claims are contained in court documents filed as part of a defamation action brought by Cate Sayers, who alleges her former husband falsely blamed her for publishing a photograph of his penis on his X account in January last year.

In the documents filed in Victoria’s Supreme Court, Cate Sayers alleges her ex-husband told the AFL’s integrity unit and Carlton officials in a statutory declaration that she had accessed his account without his knowledge and posted “a photograph of Luke’s penis on his X account”.

The documents also allege Sayers disclosed details of his wife’s private life, including her sexual history and medical information, to support his claim.

Cate Sayers claims she was defamed by the statement because it implied: “Cate suffers from mental illness and has been prescribed medication by her doctors which she periodically refuses to take, such that her denials about posting the explicit photo from Mr Sayers’ X account cannot be trusted.”

She claims “shamelessly publishing” information that falsely portrayed her as unstable, erratic and suffering from mental illness caused serious harm to her reputation.

“The information was used to present her as unstable, untrustworthy, erratic, mentally disturbed and/or presenting as a live risk to her own safety,” the court documents claim.

Cate Sayers has asked the court for damages for the “significant distress, hurt and embarrassment” caused by the saga.

The scandal erupted in January 2025, when an explicit image of a penis briefly appeared on Sayers’ X account, tagging a senior executive at health insurance giant Bupa. The post was removed about 15 minutes later, with Sayers claiming he had been hacked.

The AFL’s integrity unit investigation and an internal process at Carlton both found Sayers was not responsible for posting the photo, that his account had been “compromised” and he had not breached any rules. He stepped down as Carlton’s president shortly after those findings.

In the court documents, Cate Sayers’ lawyers claim the finding that Luke’s account had been compromised “begged the question” of who was responsible.

She claims allegations against her spread through AFL circles via the “grapevine effect”, sparking widespread gossip within the football community.

“Cate has been the subject of substantial discussion and gossip within the AFL community, in particular in Victoria, and also Australia wide,” the document claims.

“Cate has been shunned and avoided by persons she knew and had relationships with, who are involved with the AFL, Carlton, the game of AFL generally and others who knew Luke and Cate.”

The statement of claim alleges that in his statutory declaration, Luke Sayers asked AFL investigators not to interview his wife or contact Victoria Police, effectively shutting her out of the probe and “removing any opportunity for Cate to respond to the allegations made by Luke in it”.

Cate Sayers alleges that those directions were done “with the intention that Cate would not learn of the contents of the statutory declaration despite the serious allegations and statements it made about her”.

“The AFL and Carlton and their representatives relied on the content of the statutory declaration to conclude the AFL inquiries and the Carlton process regarding the publishing of the X post, accepting Luke’s allegations about Cate were true, and knowing they had not sought any response from Cate,” her lawyers allege.

“Luke’s position as the president of Carlton and previously as the chief executive officer of PwC, and a Member of the Order of Australia, meant that he was a trusted person of significant public standing such that his sworn declaration carried substantial weight and accordingly the AFL and Carlton and their representatives believed or were at least likely to believe the allegations made about Cate were true.”

Cate Sayers claims her former husband owed her a duty to keep her private details confidential.

The latest court documents were released as part of the defamation case launched against Luke Sayers.

Luke Sayers has not yet filed a defence to the case, and a spokesman said he would not comment.

In January, Bronte and Claudia Sayers – two of the four Sayers daughters – released a joint statement saying they stood behind their father, and were willing to give evidence supporting his legal defence.

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