Brian Houston Spent THIS Much Money on Pricey Legal Bills
Former Global Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church, Brian Houston, spent over $1,000,000 in legal bills defending himself from allegations that he concealed his father’s sexual abuse, and he’s hoping to recoup some of his expenses.
Earlier this year, Houston was found not guilty of covering up sexual abuses committed by his late father over 30 years ago. Houston was a child when his pedophile father, Pastor Frank Houston, molested Brett Sengstock in the 1970s. Houston found out about it in 1999, five years before his father’s death, but kept the matter under wraps instead of turning to the authorities or the police, citing the victim’s alleged wish for confidentiality. For his efforts, Houston was charged with concealing a serious indictable offense stemming from a years-long investigation by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
In the verdict, the judge said that Brian Houston had a “reasonable excuse” for not reporting the abuse to law enforcement and said he believed Houston’s silence was keeping in line with Sengstock’s wishes that it not be reported. Houston previously described his father’s multiple rapes and serial child sex abuse as “pretty serious mistakes.”
Houston, who recently announced he’s launching a new church in 2024, had his legal team appear in court last week to recover part of the million dollars he spent defending himself. According to reports:
“Magistrate Gareth Christofi noted it was “a large amount of money”, even when taking into consideration the substantial amount of material and the complexity of the matter. However, Mr Houston’s lawyer Phillip Boulten SC said the intricacies of the historical allegations laid against his client required significant assessment and investigation.
“Every single cent has been time costed. It is accounted for in the bills by time increments. I reject completely the suggestion that appearing for Brian Houston was a straightforward legal matter.”
Houston’s team argued that he should never have been charged in the first place because the prosecutors failed to consider that he may have had a “reasonable excuse” to keep the abuse quiet. Crown prosecutor Cate Dodds rejected the notion that this case had no merit and was doomed to fail before it began. She argued that Houston should not be awarded any fees at all, but that even if he is eligible for remittance, the awarded fees should be much lower than the $1,000,000 he spent for the 15-day trial.
The judge will make his ruling on this matter this coming March.
For more on Hillsong and Houston:
Hillsong Leader Expenses $40,086.05 in ONE MONTH (One Meal Was $6156.64)
Hillsong Church Gives T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer $150K for One Sermon
Internal Hillsong Memo Released Days Before Brian Houston’s Firing Claims He ‘Considered Himself Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries’
Countdown: Top 10 Weirdest Things Hillsong Leaders Expensed to the Church (Number 7 is $1467.28 for a Single Uber Ride)
Report: Hillsong Foundation Raised $21M For Charities, But only Gave Them 1% of the Money
Countdown: Top 10 Luxury Hotels Hillsong Leaders Expensed to the Church (Spoiler: The Cheapest is $8457.42)
What is ‘Hillsong Family’, and Why Do Some Churches Pay $100K a Year to Join It? Ft. Judah Smith
Hillsong’s Compassion Contract Details Revealed: What $1,000,000 Really Gets You
Hillsong Church Salaries, Royalties, Benefits Revealed. $1.9M, $ 1.7M, $1.5M, $876K, $540K
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