Guy Sebastian has hit back at claims suggesting he told his former manager to keep cash to make up for “lost commissions” from the early stages of their partnership, calling the allegations “ridiculous”.

The denial comes as the former manager, Titus Emanuel Day, faces trial for allegedly embezzling $640 000 in royalties and performance fees owed to the singer.

Last year, Day asked the state to pay his estimated $1 million in legal costs after successfully overturning his convictions for defrauding his high-profile client.

Day had been sentenced to at least 2 and a half years in prison in November 2022, following a jury’s conviction on 34-fraud related charges.

Titus Emanuel Day reflects on falling out with Guy Sebastian

Last month, Day told news.com.au that the falling out with Guy Sebastian and business dispute had been “very tough” for him, but even “more so for my wife and children”.

Day described the relationship between his clients as “often like marriage itself”, and “you become very close friends”.

“When Guy and I would be on the road touring, Jules and their kids (Hudson and Archer) would sometimes go and stay at my house with my wife. The lines definitely blur occasionally but that’s not always a bad thing. My work is most of my life and so it’s natural that my clients become friends.”

Guy Sebastian alleges unpaid corporate gigs and performances

As part of the alleged $640,000 embezzlement by Titus Emanuel Day, $187,000 is said to have been misappropriated from performance fees owed to Guy Sebastian for his role as a support act on Taylor Swift’s 2013 Red Tour in Australia.

During proceedings, Day’s barrister Thomas Woods suggested that Sebastian had instructed Day to keep money from performances at Michael Hill and BBG in 2014 as compensation for “lost commissions” from their earlier partnership in 2009.

Woods argued that Sebastian had agreed to “look after” Day in the future by compensating him for the lower commission rate of 5% he had received at the start of their agreement—an assertion which Sebastian has denied.

“(Day) wanted more than five per cent for that period but couldn’t get it because of your arrangement with (22 Management) — you would look after him down the track when you were in a stronger financial position, and that was then what you did. That’s what I’m suggesting to you,” Woods said.

Guy Sebastian has rejected Wood’s claim, calling them “completely false”.

“Their agreement was a 15-5 agreement, and that was between them,” Sebastian replied, as reported by The Australian. 

“The concept that in 2014, that where I was already paying a lot of commission to Titus … that seems really ridiculous to me,” the Battlescars singer said.

Guy Sebastian stated that he couldn’t comment on claims of “lost commissions”.

“But it obviously, yeah, sucks being back but you know, just gotta go through the motions,” the singer said.

Meanwhile, Barrister Woods argued the key issue in the case was not whether his client failed to transfer the money to Guy Sebastian, but rather whether his failure to do so was criminal.

The trial is ongoing.