Confronting video of Geoff Bainbridge smoking from a glass pipe may have been filmed in his lavish Melbourne home, not as part of a 2015 extortion racket as he claimed.
The co-founder of burger chain Grill'd earlier said the clip was recorded in Southeast Asia after a wild night with strangers seven years ago, who later tried to extort him.
Now, property records uncovered by The Australian show the video was actually filmed in a house purchased by Bainbridge in 2020.
The home, in Melbourne's ritzy Middle Park, was reportedly sold to Bainbridge for $3.465m in July of that year.
In videos seen by The Australian, unique features in the clip's background match a real estate listing of the house reportedly now in his name.
One clip shows Mr Bainbridge lighting a glass pipe before saying: "Let's get f***king high together baby. I'd smoke meth and just blow it all over your c***, babe."
Bainbridge in the bedroom while apparently high on ice. Photo / Supplied
He then followed it up by telling the camera he's "so high, I'm so f**king horny."
In response to the allegations Bainbridge's lawyers told the publication he had "no comment/no response."
The entrepreneur, who quit as Lark Distillery managing director after the video was released, earlier told The Age the videos were taken during an overseas trip in 2015.
He said he woke to find a pair of unknown men showing him the footage after the fact.
Bainbridge also claimed he made a series of 14 payments to two extortionists which totalled nearly $9000.
"The reality for me is there is footage of me consuming class-A drugs in a foreign country. That has serious ramifications," he said.
In a statement after resigning from Lark, Bainbridge said the incident took place after his appointment at the company.
"Following the incident, due to this captured content I have been the subject of a sophisticated, continuing and recently escalated extortion.
"After paying my extortionists, I sought advice from a London-based threat assessment agency and ceased responding to the extortionists' threats. This resulted in video imagery being released to several media outlets."
He said he quit to reduce reputational damage to Lark and himself.
"Although I consider myself a victim of a crime, I accept that I am also responsible for the circumstances I find myself in."
