Geoff Huegill has taken to social media to stand behind his wife Sara, who has been accused of ripping off her PR clients.
According to A Current Affair, the WAG lured clients to her PR business ROW A PR. with her personable character and impressive list of contacts before promising a range of media materials in exchange for an upfront payment. However, at least five clients now claim the work they paid for was never carried out.
Her husband, Geoff, has since taken to Instagram to post a lengthy apology of sorts.
“At times, good people make poor choices. We all trip over and make mistakes and unfortunately, we let others down. But that doesn’t make us bad people,” the Olympic legend wrote, alongside a black-and-white photo of himself and his partner. “There are no excuses for the poor choices, however, when we look back at a moment in time, naturally there are things we would all do differently.”
“I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to those who have supported us and those who continue to support us in these challenging times,” the 39-year-old continued. “Naturally there are two sides to every story, and there will be a time, when we as a family will share our side.”
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He concluded the post: “For now, my primary focus is to make sure that the health and well-being of my best friend is managed, so she can be the best person she can be for herself and for our family.”
Jay Silvester and Daniel Leshak, the duo behind health drink brand BB Unleash, are just one of five small businesses to speak out about the publicist. They claim the 34-year-old failed to deliver after she promised to spruik their product.
“We have no evidence she did anything for us other than a photo of our bottles up against a wall with a white bag behind it,” Mr Silvester told A Current Affair.
“We never got any media releases; we never got any tags with any social media,” Mr Leshak said.
Mr Silvester added: “We didn’t expect the world … and in the end, really, we didn’t even get a line in a local mag.”
They say they paid $6000 for a contract as well as paying courier costs so she could send the drink to various social media influencers.
Natalia Lydford, who owns and runs Island Boheme swimwear, also surrendered an upfront payment in exchange for PR work but she too claims she saw nothing for her money.
“I was like, oh my God, three months have passed and I actually haven’t seen any work,” Natalia told the news program.
“I said to her [Sara], from a mother to another mother, I don’t know how someone can do this, she seemed to be lacking in all compassion to me.”
WATCH: Both Geoff and Sara have previously been caught up in a drug scandal. Post continues…
A statement from Sara’s lawyer, Paul Hunt, has since revealed said anxiety and depression caused the media personality to take on more work than she could manage.
“Over a period of time Sara developed increasing difficulty with anxiety and depression which resulted in inattention to administrative matters such as company registration and Sara taking on more work than she could manage,” the statement said, according to news.com.au.
“From late 2017 Sara became unable to fulfil her obligations to the full extent and clients became unhappy, which unfortunately compounded the issues Sara is facing. Sara deeply regrets the circumstances and apologises unreservedly to her clients.”
“Sara has offered to make amends to clients, some of whom have chosen to ventilate their grievances through a court process, and others have approached the media. Where matters are before the courts there is no comment. As this is a matter of person seeking to deal with anxiety and depression, we would ask that people respect the circumstances and privacy of Sara and her family.”
The claims follow reports the publicist stole a pair of leather pants worth $2,500 from exclusive Byron Bay boutique, Island Luxe just last month.
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