Carlton president Luke Sayers is being investigated by the AFL Integrity Unit after a graphic sexual image was sent from his X account to a female executive at one of the club’s key sponsors, it has been reported.
The former PWC chief executive’s X account posted an image of a mystery man’s penis, and tagged the account of a top female management figure with a company linked to Carlton at 5.41pm on January 9.
The public post was directed at the executive’s social media account, although the mother-of-two does not appear to have used X since 2017 and does not follow Mr Sayers on the platform.
Sayers noticed the development after the photo had been online for 12 minutes, at which point he hastily deleted the image and apologised to his followers, claiming he had been targeted by cyber criminals.
‘Sorry, my account has been hacked – please ignore all posts,’ he wrote.
Sayers was referred to the Integrity Unit last week and the league is conducting an investigation, according to News Corp.
The AFL Integrity Unit is reportedly investigating Carlton president Luke Sayers (pictured) after his graphic photo scandal was referred to the league last week
The high-flying executive claimed he was hacked but is coming under increasing pressure to answer more questions around the scandal
The married father-of-four’s account, which had more than 7,300 followers, was deleted but the post had already been reposted and screen-grabbed by other X users.
The former Price Waterhouse Cooper CEO told Daily Mail Australia he was ‘outraged’ by the alleged attack when the news first broke.
‘This is outrageous. I’m investigating and will leave no stone unturned finding out who did this to me and my family,’ he said.
However, more than a week on, Mr Sayers is yet to confirm whether he intends to report the incident to police, and the Carlton Football Club would not respond to requests for comment.
News Corp also claimed the football club president had stopped returning messages from colleagues and clients at his private company, Sayers Group, and had since disconnected his phone.
The female executive tagged in the hijacked post was at a Carlton Respects luncheon, as part of a program run by the club to help counter violence against women, six months ago.
Sayers (pictured with his wife Cate) is yet to confirm whether he intends to report the incident to police after saying he would ‘leave no stone unturned’ to find the culprit
Sources close to the executive told Daily Mail Australia she was distraught over the incident and ‘completely shaken up’ but that had since returned to work full-time.
Her family are said to be furious that she has been dragged into the mess.
SEN’s chief sports reporter Sam Edmund said Mr Sayers need to address the ongoing scandal because it was not going to simply ‘go away’.
‘The heat is building around Luke Sayers,’ he said while discussing the sage with former AFL star Kane Cornes on-air on Thursday.
‘We’ve probably danced around this topic for a couple of days, but Carlton won’t comment, the AFL won’t comment and won’t confirm if they are investigating.
‘Sayers has maintained he is the victim of a sinister hacking incident, a scenario that social media experts have said is highly unusual given he didn’t appear to be locked out of his account.
‘He could tweet a message saying he had been hacked … he’s since deleted that account and remains overseas on holiday with his family in Italy.
‘This is something that is going to continue to bubble away. It’s not going to go away.’
The club boss (pictured second from left with Blues fan and music superstar Robbie Williams, second from right, and Carlton coach Michael Voss, right) and the club have remained silent about the scandal since his comments last Wednesday
Leading cybercrime investigator Ken Gamble told Daily Mail Australia the key to unmasking those responsible for the graphic photo being posted from the account was swift action.
‘The public often don’t believe that these types of sexually explicit hacking cases are perpetrated by hackers, but these cybercrimes are on the rise and are more prevalent now than any time in history,’ he said.
‘There are specific steps that need to be undertaken to investigate Mr Sayers’ case, including the urgent discovery of digital data trails that would otherwise be private, such as IP subscriber logs to identify the whereabouts of a computer or phone user [behind the attack].’
The incident comes little more than a month after the prominent executive figure and his Cate, who have four daughters together, sold their sprawling mansion in Melbourne’s east for more than $16.5million.
The Sayers snapped up the seven-bedroom home in Hawthorn East almost two decades ago for $4.84million.
