Singer Guy Sebastian has settled his long-running legal dispute with former manager Titus Day, who has now admitted many payments owed to the singer were not passed on.

Day managed the Australian Idol winner from 2009 to 2017 before their relationship ended acrimoniously and Sebastian filed a federal lawsuit claiming the talent agent had misappropriated his performance fees.

Day was jailed in 2022 after being found guilty of embezzling $624,000 from his client over eight years, but the charges were overturned on appeal. A second jury acquitted him of four offences and failed to reach a verdict on the remaining charges.

The bitter feud then returned to the Federal Court last year after Sebastian launched a civil action.

However, in statements released simultaneously on Wednesday, both parties said they had reached a confidential settlement and Sebastian was dropping the action.

Day – who previously argued the criminal proceedings “should never have happened” – apologised to Sebastian.

He said that while he was the singer’s manager he made “a number of regrettable decisions which have had painful consequences, not only for me and my family, but also for Guy and his family”.

“Looking back on the latter half of the time when I was managing Guy’s career, I can see that I had become a poor steward of Guy’s income, including income that my company continued to receive after Guy left my management company in late 2017,” he said in the statement.

“There were many instances in which payments that should have been passed on to Guy, were not.

“My management company’s failure to properly account for and pass on those payments to Guy was the result of my mistake. I accept that my failures at that time had a serious and regrettable impact on Guy and his family, for which I apologise.”

The settlement was confirmed by Sebastian and his lawyer, Mark Faraday, who said the parties involved had “finally arrived at a place where they can all move on”.

 

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Sebastian thanked his family, friends and team, saying he accepted Day’s apology.

“I know this impacted a lot of people around me, but I believed it was something I couldn’t walk away from,” the singer said.

“I never could have imagined the twists and turns this ordeal would take.

“With the accountability shown and the apology Mr Day has provided in his statement, I am prepared to put aside my claim against him, forgive, and move forward.”

Sebastian rose to stardom after winning the first season of Australian Idol in 2003, and has since gone on to release 11 albums and collect seven ARIA awards.

He and Day were friends before Sebastian began to suspect the manager was not passing on all his payments, with Faraday saying on Wednesday that the singer had been willing to resolve the matter “very early, and on incredibly fair terms”.

“A private resolution has always been Guy’s preference. Unfortunately, this did not happen, and the matter took many unexpected turns over a long period of time.”

Day acknowledged that the singer had tried to settle “long before any criminal investigation, charges or trials”.

“I would do things differently if I had my time again,” he said.

“At an early stage in the dispute, I should have been more reasonable and less emotional, which I have no doubt would have led to a swifter and more conciliatory outcome.

“I take full responsibility for this.”