Freshly released court documents reveal further evidence on how Rupert Murdoch and his nuttier son Lachlan Murdoch controlled former judge Walter Sofronoff during and after the ACT Inquiry into the police cover-up attempt of the rape of Brittany Higgins.

In this article, we will also look at Rupert Murdoch’s and Lachlan Murdoch’s crooked relationships with Federal Court of Australia judge Michael Lee and Bruce Lehrmann’s former barrister Steve Whybrow.

I will deal with Steve Whybrow first, then Walter Sofronoff and then Justice Michael Lee to keep the timeline of my past reporting of them in order.

How the payoff works – Is it cash or just quid pro quo?

All three, Steve Whybrow, Walter Sofronoff and Justice Michael Lee were all invited to News Corp and/or News Corp sponsored events in the last 18 months after they had done legal or judicial favours for Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch. And they have all received ongoing favourable media coverage from News Corp’s media assets in Australia.

I have already written about Steve Whybrow and Walter Sofronoff being on the payroll of the Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp which showed a pattern starting to emerge.

Any doubt about that pattern was put to rest when Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation judge Justice Michael Lee, who found there was no Liberal Party cover-up of Brittany Higgins rape, showed up to News Corp’s 60th birthday for The Australian newspaper only a couple of months after his judgement.

Steve Whybrow

The rape charge against Bruce Lehrmann for raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in March 2019 was discontinued in December 2022.

It became very apparent not long after that Steve Whybrow had a very close and cosy relationship with News Corp and especially Rupert Murdoch’s propagandist Janet Albrechtsen, who writes for The Australian.

I published an article on the 15th of June 2023 titled “Bruce Lehrmann and his barrister Steve Whybrow should face contempt of court charges for leaking documents to harass Brittany Higgins” which starts off:

Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister for his rape trial Steve Whybrow confessed in a witness statement, as per below, to aiding and abetting Rupert Murdoch propagandist Janet Albrechtsen, who writes for The Australian, with a leaked police document known as the “Moller Report” and other documents in a deliberate attempt to harass Brittany Higgins.

When put together with other facts it becomes obvious Steve Whybrow, with Bruce Lehrmann’s approval, is the person who has illegally leaked other documents, recordings and possibly text messages from the rape trial to News Corp and Seven West Media which could and should see Mr Whybrow and Mr Lehrmann charged with contempt of court.

The article also has the below video:

On the 20th of May 2023 Steve Whybrow was interviewed by Janet Albrechtsen for an article and attacked Brittany Higgins as per the below video. Nowhere in the below video does Steve Whybrow say he leaked the Moller Report to Janet Albrechtsen to defame Brittany Higgins or at least say he helped Janet Albrechtsen get the Moller Report verified as a police document even though he knew it was a very biased report attacking Brittany Higgins. (Click here to read more)

On the 15th of May 2024 Justice Michael Lee handed down his judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.

Two days later Steve Whybrow was in Perth giving a talk at a conference organised by The Institute of Public Affairs which is a propaganda outfit for the Murdoch’s and just happens to be Chaired by Janet Albrechtsen.

The SMH reported on 22nd of April 2024 in an article titled “Linda Reynolds, Janet Albrechtsen dine out after Lehrmann judgment”:

Two days after Federal Court justice Michael Lee found former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann had raped his then-colleague Brittany Higgins in a ministerial office, their former boss Linda Reynolds sat down to dinner with The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen at Fremantle Italian joint Vin Populi.

The pair, who played their own side roles in this sad affair, had been at a conference organised by conservative think tank The Institute of Public Affairs out west, along with Lehrmann’s former barrister Steven Whybrow, who told attendees he’d yet to even read Lee’s judgment.

The conservative columnist became one of the broadsheet’s go-to correspondents on matters pertaining to Lehrmann and Higgins, occasionally blurring the line between reporter and #MeToo-critical opinionator, and in the process, managing to commit one of journalism’s cardinal sins by becoming a part of the story.

The ACT Supreme Court found that an inquiry into Lehrmann’s aborted criminal prosecution conducted by Walter Sofronoff, KC, was infected by an apprehension of bias against the territory’s ex-director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold, because of the former Queensland judge’s excessive contact – 273 phone interactions – with Albrechtsen. (Click here to read more)

Since Steve Whybrow started representing Bruce Lehrmann in 2022, he has done numerous written and video interviews with Janet Albrechtsen which at the very least is free national promotion for his business as a barrister and maybe he was paid for the interviews as well. And how much did The Institute of Public Affairs pay Steven Whybrow to fly to Perth to give a talk at their conference?

Walter Sofronoff

Walter Sofronoff is still under investigation for criminal offences for leaking the ACT Inquiry report to Janet Albrechtsen.

I published an article on the 10th of August 2023 titled “Corrupt judge Walter Sofronoff was bribed by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to leak ACT Inquiry Report to Janet Albrechtsen” which starts off:

At the same time Walter Sofronoff was illegally leaking the ACT Inquiry Report, to propagandist Janet Albrechtsen, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp was negotiating with Sofronoff to cash in on the dodgy ACT Inquiry findings.

A lot of people are asking what motivated Walter Sofronoff, a former judge and Solicitor-General of Queensland, to put his career and liberty at risk by breaking the law with his leaking of the ACT Inquiry Report to Murdoch’s Janet Albrechtsen.

Below we will see the evidence showing some of the benefits that Walter Sofronoff was planning on receiving and they are linked to News Corp. But firstly, it’s worth noting this is not the first time this exact scam has happened.

Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow previously illegally leaked court documents to Janet Albrechtsen to embarrass Brittany Higgins and Shane Drumgold which benefited Bruce Lehrmann. Steve Whybrow’s payoff was free promotion, for his barrister services, via a written and video interviews with Janet Albrechtsen published on The Australian’s website and YouTube channel.

and:

Walter Sofronoff was bribed by Rupert Murdoch

Walter Sofronoff leaked the report to The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen weeks before he gave it to the ACT Government and at the same time he was organising to give a talk at the Queensland Media Club hosted by The Australian’s Hedley Thomas on the 25th of August. The talk has now been cancelled given the heat that Walter Sofronoff is receiving after the leaking scandal.

So, weeks before Walter Sofronoff gave the ACT Inquiry Report to the government, he illegally leaked it to Janet Albrechtsen while at the same time he was organising to give a talk, with Hedley Thomas as “Event compere” as per the below picture, on the ACT Inquiry which would be worth $50,000 to $100,000 of free advertising to promote Walter Sofronoff’s services as a Barrister.

A clear and powerful prima facie case of “Quid pro quo” (“something for something”). (Click here to read the full article)

New evidence – ACT Supreme Court recently released documents

On the 11^th of September 2024 the ACT Supreme Court released documents from the Shane Drumgold v ACT Government court case that was finalised in March 2024 regarding disputed findings in the Walter Sofronoff ACT Inquiry report against Shane Drumgold.

The documents show Walter Sofronoff communicating with Peter Kelly, who works for the promoters Three Plus, organising a “talk” at the Queensland Media Club with News Corp’s Hedley Thomas as host.

The communication, going by Peter Kelly’s mobile messages, started on the 4th of April with a missed call and the message “Walter, Please call Peter Kelly re: Qld Media Club”, as per below.

So even before Walter Sofronoff had started public hearings for the ACT Inquiry there were possibly discussions for him to cash in on it.

As per above, on July 11 2023, the text says ” Walter, Do you still have interest in speaking at the Qld media club?” which means they had a discussion some time before that.

There are further text messages here, here, here, here, here and here organising the dates and sending pictures for promotional material etc.

The below email exchange is on the 26th and 27th of July 2023. Walter Sofronoff did not hand his report to the ACT Government until the 31^st of July 2023.

The ACT Inquiry Report was given to the ACT government on Monday the 31^st of July 2023 and they were not going to make it public until the 1st of September 2023.

On the day after (1/8/23) the ACT Government received the Inquiry Report the Queensland Media Club were advertising the below ad on Twitter:

Walter Sofronoff’s talk at the Queensland Media Club was cancelled after the scandal erupted of him leaking the Inquiry report to Janet Albrechtsen. But if it had gone ahead, it would have certainly received plenty of promotion from News Corp before and after the event.

The messages between Walter Sofronoff and Peter Kelly raise many more questions as they only tell part of the story. An inquiry Chair organising to cash in on the Inquiry long before the Inquiry is finished, possibly as early as April 2023, as per messages, before the Inquiry started public hearings is scandalous.

During the course of the ACT Inquiry Walter Sofronoff also communicated with other media including this website.

The ABC reported on the 11th of September and said:

“Mr Sofronoff had been corresponding with multiple media outlets throughout the course of the inquiry and the subsequent fallout, including news.com.au, The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, AAP, Region Media and Kangaroo Court of Australia.” (Click here to read more)

Walter Sofronoff is basically unemployable at the moment, at least as an Inquiry head, while he awaits the decision of the ACT Integrity Commission into his criminal conduct. But that hasn’t stopped News Corp’s The Australian, where Janet Albrechtsen works, promoting him as per below.

The Australian reported on the 20th of June 2024:

Ex-judge slams ‘zealots’ who rule with agendas

Former judge and inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff has slammed ‘narcissists and zealots’ whom he believes threaten the rule of law and our institutions. (Click here top read. It is behind a paywall)

Justice Michael Lee

I published an article on the 1st of August 2024 titled “Lachlan Murdoch bribed Justice Michael Lee in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation matter” which starts off:

Lachlan Murdoch has openly and publicly bribed Justice Michael Lee to protect the Liberal Party in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation judgment which became obvious when Justice Lee attended News Corp’s celebration of The Australian’s 60th birthday last Thursday (25/7/24).

Yes, that’s the same News Corp that has been attacking Brittany Higgins, since she went public in February 2021 with being raped at parliament house, while at the same time defending Bruce Lehrmann and all the Liberal Party players who were involved in the cover-up such as Senator Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown.

I emailed Justice Michael Lee and the Federal Court of Australia media team questions, which is in the article, but they failed to respond. (Click here to read the article)

Below is Justice Michael Lee attending The Australian newspaper’s 60th birthday celebration at the Australian Museum in Sydney’s Darlinghurst on Thursday the 25th of July 2024. Justice Lee has the look of a guilty person being caught red-handed (Photo by James Brickwood for the SMH) (Click here to read more)

The Australian reported on the 9th of August 2024:

Judge tells media to fight for its rights

Michael Lee has blasted the overuse of strict suppression orders that ‘interfere’ with open justice, urging the media to ‘more vigorously’ fight confidentiality motions. Federal Court judge Michael Lee speaking at the Women in Media conference in Sydney on Friday. (Click here top read. It is behind a paywall)

So, Walter Sofronoff was meant to cash in at a talk at the Queensland Media Club just after the ACT Inquiry which was cancelled after he was exposed acting corruptly and leaking the report to The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen which is very similar to Justice Micheal Lee showing up to a Women in Media conference giving a talk and then being promoted by a story in The Australian.

I don’t know whether News Corp played a part in Justice Michael Lee being at the Women in Media conference, but they were quick to promote him and what he said at the conference although it must be said other media were as well. But other media didn’t invite Justice Michael Lee to a birthday party.

Justice Michael Lee plans on taking 6 months off next year to write a screenplay set in Sydney in the 1930’s and if that happens his new found friends at News Corp will come in handy to promote it which brings us back to the quid pro quo.

Justice Michael Lee could have set the record straight about his relationship with the Murdoch’s and News Corp by answering the questions I emailed him, but he chose not to.

Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s tenacles reach far and wide including into the Australian judiciary and legal fraternity.

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