The man,whom this masthead has not named for legal reasons,recalled the trio arrived at Auerbach’s harbourside apartment in the early hours of Saturday,November 26,2022.
“The last thing I saw when I left[early in the morning] was Bruce and a woman going into a room with literally nothing in it but a piano. It was so surreal,it was like something from a David Lynch film,” he said.
Before arriving at the apartment,the three men had enjoyed a boozy dinner at Cipri restaurant in Paddington withSpotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn. At the time,Seven was trying to secure an exclusive interview with Lehrmann,whose criminal trial for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins had recently been abandoned because of juror misconduct.
Lehrmann has continued to maintain his innocence.
Auerbach has previously revealed that two Thai masseuses were booked – one for Lehrmann and one for himself. Lehrmann provided a denial about this to News Corp saying,“The story is untrue and rather bizarre,” and that it was being peddled by a “disgruntled ex-Spotlight producer”.
Lehrmann claimed that,while he was in Sydney “meeting with senior Network Seven bosses about the potential for aSpotlight story”,he stayed at accommodation in the city.