Brittany Higgins’ husband David Sharaz has hit out at critics as “evil” for mocking his pregnant wife after she revealed plans to sell the family home in France to pay mounting legal costs.
Outspoken TV commentator Prue McSween took to social media on Monday after Ms Higgins made the announcement.
“She’s so smart. Mon Dieu Higgins had to sell her French chateau to pay her mounting legal bills. Such is life,” she tweeted.
But Mr Sharaz, in a fit of anger, jumped into action on X (formerly known as Twitter), the same forum he used to criticise Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, who is now suing him and Ms Higgins for defamation.
“You are… a scumbag,” he wrote in a retweet of Maxwin’s earlier post.
In a shocking development that suggests the former Liberal staffer is in need of money despite securing $2.4 million in damages, she has admitted for the first time that the rest of her compensation could be wiped out by the defamation battle.
The trial could easily cost more than $1 million, and the judge has repeatedly urged both sides to settle.
If she loses, Ms Higgins could have to pay not only her own legal fees, but also those of her former employer, Senator Reynolds, after she alleged she was raped in her ministerial office in 2019.
In theory, a legal defeat could cost Ms. Higgins millions of dollars.
In a statement to news.com.au, Ms Higgins confirmed that she would have to sell her French home to pay for the defamation lawyers.
“Brittany moved abroad to recover and escape the online attacks she has been subjected to, particularly in the wake of Channel 7’s Spotlight programme,” a spokesperson said.
This will be Brittany’s third court case and one of many legal proceedings surrounding her rape at Parliament House.
“Legal costs have already reached over $1 million and will continue to rise with Senator Reynolds’ defamation lawsuit.
“The price of speaking out about sexual assault remains indescribably high.
Brittany now has to sell her house in order to fend for herself again.
Bruce Lerman has always maintained his innocence and was never convicted after the charges against him were dropped.
Last year, a federal court ruled, on the civil balance of probabilities, that Mr. Lerman had raped Ms. Higgins. He is appealing that decision.
Senator Linda Reynolds mortgaged her home to fight a $1 million defamation lawsuit.
Senator Reynolds’ legal team had previously confirmed that she had mortgaged her home to fight the case, which centres on a series of social media posts in which Brittany Higgins criticised her boss’s handling of her rape allegation.
While Senator Reynolds has not yet confirmed how much she has spent on legal fees prosecuting alleged rape victim Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz, it is believed the sum is likely to exceed $1 million if the trial proceeds.
Outside court, her lawyer Martin Bennett said the defamation suit had cost Reynolds, 58, a “fortune”.
“My client mortgaged her home when she was her age to pay the legal fees to do this and try to defend her reputation,” he said.
“It costs people a lot of money to do this.”
Senator Reynolds has filed a lawsuit against Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz over a series of posts on social media sites Instagram and Twitter.
Her lawyer Martin Bennett also revealed that Senator Reynolds’ only hope of recovering her own expenses if she wins is by accessing the trust fund that Ms Higgins used to buy the French house and fund her lifestyle.
“If you are out of pocket and have mortgaged your home to the maximum to pay for litigation, then recovering those costs is something you should try to do as soon as possible,” Mr Bennett said outside court.
“We know that Ms. Higgins, in all respects, leads a wonderful lifestyle of travel and events.”
In recent months, Ms Higgins has had to raise a large cash deposit for a lawyer and other legal representatives to fight the claim after mediation failed.
As a result, less than six months after she said “goodbye” to Australia, the sale of the French property has raised concerns that Ms Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz are suddenly under financial pressure.
If true, it would suggest they spent a significant portion of their $2.4 million taxpayer compensation in less than two years.
David Sharaz faces ‘bankruptcy’
Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds’ lawyer had previously predicted that David Sharaz would end up “bankrupt” over the legal case and mocked Brittany Higgins’ fiancé for crying poor while living in a French “chateau”.
Mr Sharaz, 33, is an unemployed migrant who has been out of work for more than a year, since he parted ways with a Brisbane radio station shortly after Senator Reynolds announced she would sue him for defamation over social media posts in early 2023.
At the time, he wrote in an Instagram post: “I’ll miss the people, but I’ll enjoy deleting my 3:30am alarm. What’s next? I have no idea! (Edited).”
Senator Reynolds’ defamation lawyer Martin Bennett said he had defamed his client and that the case against Mr Sharaz would continue regardless of whether he had legal representation.
“If he is destitute, as he claims in France, he will declare bankruptcy,” he said.
“He has defamed my client. You can avoid litigation, but it is very expensive.”
Senator Reynolds’ attorney also questioned his claim that he does not have the resources to pay for the legal case.
“He lives in a palace. He has no job and he has a royal solicitor, a junior solicitor and two lawyers representing him,” he said.
Brittany Higgins’ $2.4 Million Deal
The $2.4 million settlement was paid to Brittany Higgins in December 2022, after the criminal trial collapsed due to juror misconduct and concerns about her mental health and ability to withstand a second trial.
Ms Higgins was awarded $2.4 million on a non-admission basis in December 2022. She later told the Federal Court that she received $1.9 million after legal fees and taxes.
Her country home in France, which had been on the market for about a year before she bought it, is not expected to sell in a hurry.
It was purchased for about $700,000. In theory, Ms. Higgins would have had $1.2 million left over from the original amount she received.
Engagement, wedding and trips to Maldives, London, Byron Bay, Paris and UAE
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz rented a Gold Coast apartment for a year in February 2023 after securing the payment and bought a Jeep in Australia and then a car in France after moving there in late 2023.
They traveled to the Maldives in December 2022, bought an engagement ring, and had their engagement photos taken by photographers at the top of the Byron Bay Lighthouse.
After the Maldives trip, Mr. Sharaz posted a photo of the trip on Instagram and called it the best birthday present ever.
“Brittany and I shared a joke when one of us did something romantic… Richard Gere was amazing? Well baby, Richard Gere blew me away. Thank you for the best birthday present ever,” he wrote.
Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins also documented trips to Paris, London and the United Arab Emirates, and multiple round trips to Europe, Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, including her wedding and legal mediation with Senator Reynolds in Perth.
She also travelled to Switzerland for an unpaid internship at the UN with Natasha Stott Despoja.
Since the money was given around Christmas 2022, Ms Higgins has also spent more than $100,000 on her wedding on the Gold Coast this month, where guests including Nova Radio presenter Maddie Rowe, journalist Ginger Gorman and philanthropist John Dee were treated to a chicken breast with potato pie, preserved tomatoes and a leek sauce; or a beef steak with potato mash, mushrooms and black garlic sauce – all served with roast potatoes and a rocket salad.
Brittany Higgins and David Charaz left Australia for France in December.
As they prepared to move to a remote village in France, the couple said goodbye to friends and family at Brisbane International Airport in December 2023.
Mr Sharaz, Ms Higgins, her mother Kelly and her father Matthew gathered at the airport, dressed all in white.
The couple’s departure comes after a turbulent month in which Ms Higgins and her parents were called as witnesses in Bruce Lerman’s high-profile defamation trial against Ten Channel and Lisa Wilkinson.
Bruce Lerman denied sexually assaulting Ms. Higgins and pleaded not guilty before a criminal trial was canceled following an allegation of jury misconduct.
Ms Higgins posted on Instagram after arriving in Singapore that she would “still call Australia home”.
“No matter how far or how far away I am, I will always call Australia home,” she wrote.
The French property is located in the small town of Lunas, which is six hours by train from Paris and four hours by car from Barcelona in Spain.
It remained a secret until Mr. Sharaz posted about their new home on Facebook using a public account under her name, prompting hordes of photographers to descend on the city.
“Hi, I’m looking for someone to do some gardening for us for the next couple of months. Maybe once or twice every two weeks,” Mr. Sharaz wrote on October 2, 2023.
“We are in Lunas.”
