Former Special Air Service corporal Ben Roberts-Smith has revealed media mogul Kerry Stokes spent upwards of $30 million financing his disastrous defamation suit, while insisting he regrets nothing about his military service.
Speaking in an extensive radio interview, the Victoria Cross recipient laid bare the staggering financial cost of the protracted legal battle that concluded with damning civil findings of war crimes against him.
ABC News NSW reported that Roberts-Smith confirmed Stokes, the executive chairman of Seven Group Holdings, shouldered the colossal legal bill across years of pretrial skirmishing, a 110-day trial in the Federal Court, and subsequent appellate proceedings.
A Staggering Price Tag for Seven West Boss
The estimate of "upwards of $30m" confirms long-held industry speculation regarding the extent of Stokes's private patronage. Stokes had publicly backed Roberts-Smith through his private investment vehicle, Australian Control Investments, providing loan agreements to fund the action against Nine-owned mastheads, including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The legal action concluded disastrously for the former soldier when Justice Anthony Besanko ruled in June 2023 that the newspapers had established the substantial truth of allegations that Roberts-Smith was involved in four unlawful killings of Afghans while deployed with the SAS.
Subsequent attempts to overturn the ruling were dismissed by the Full Court of the Federal Court, leaving Stokes's funding entity facing not only his own legal bills but also exposure to immense indemnity cost orders sought by the media organisations.
Defiance in the Wake of Damning Findings
Despite the devastating civil findings, which shattered his public reputation and stripped him of corporate directorships, Roberts-Smith remained unbowed during the broadcast.
The former soldier maintained that he "wouldn't change a single thing" regarding his actions during six operational tours of Afghanistan. He dismissed the civil verdict as the byproduct of a targeted campaign orchestrated by envious former comrades and irresponsible reporting, arguing that his conduct on the battlefield adhered strictly to the harsh operational realities of modern warfare.
Legal observers noted that such defiance illustrates an enduring refusal to accept the exhaustive factual findings delivered by the courts, which found Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed Afghan civilian off a cliff in Darwan and ordered the execution of detainees.
Shadow of Ongoing Criminal Investigations
The disclosure of the multi-million-dollar cost comes as the broader defence establishment continues to reckon with the findings of the landmark Brereton report, which investigated alleged war crimes by Australian special forces between 2005 and 2016.
While Roberts-Smith's defamation action was conducted entirely within the civil jurisdiction—where the standard of proof is on the balance of probabilities—the Office of the Special Investigator continues to examine allegations against former special forces personnel under the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
For Stokes, whose media empire has faced sustained scrutiny from shareholders over its unwavering support for the decorated veteran, the disclosure confirms the immense price paid in a legal gamble that ended in comprehensive defeat.