Channel Ten has billed Bruce Lehrmann $2.5 million for his failed defamation case.
Lehrmann suffered a massive legal loss against the network and Lisa Wilkinson in April when Federal Court Judge Michael Lee found that, on a balance of probabilities, he had raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament in March 2019.
She had filed a defamation lawsuit over a February 2021 episode of The Project, during which Higgins aired her rape allegations for the first time in an interview with Wilkinson.
The former employee was not named in the broadcast, but claimed friends and colleagues were able to identify him as Higgins’ rapist.
As the loser of the trial, Lehrmann is expected to fork out at least part of the costs of carrying out the trial.
Daily Mail Australia understands the large bill was sent to Lehrmann ahead of a costs hearing in the Federal Court at 9.30am on Monday.
Channel Ten has billed Bruce Lehrmann $2.5 million for his failed defamation case
In early May, the court heard that Lehrmann did not have a secret financier funding the case.
His lawyer Paul Svilans told the court his client had nothing to present because there were no agreements.
The only settlement Lehrmann had was with the defamation law firm Mark O’Brien Legal, which handled the case for him without any profit or fees.
Judge Lee said: “The two key points are, yes, many costs have been incurred, but they are not recoverable because Mr Lehrmann… lost.”
He said Lehrmann could be forced to declare bankruptcy.
More to come