The man at the center of a bitter America's Cup spy scandal branded as liars yesterday three senior members of rival teams who accused him of trying to sell boat design secrets to competitors.
Sean Reeves, a New Zealand lawyer and former member of Cup challengers OneWorld, gave four hours of testimony during a fiery first day of an arbitration panel hearing.
The five-man panel sat after protests were lodged by rival challengers Team Dennis Conner and Italy's Prada, seeking OneWorld's disqualification. Conner and Prada accuse OneWorld of possessing and using design secrets taken from other teams.
Eye of storm
Reeves was a key member of the OneWorld team and helped recruit many of its crew, including former members of defending cup holders Team New Zealand.
But Reeves, OneWorld's former operations manager, fell out with the Seattle-based team after they accused him of trying to sell their boat design details to other teams.
OneWorld won a US court judgment and damages against Reeves in September but wanted him to appear before the panel in an attempt to save their place in the America's Cup.
US attorney Hal Baetz, acting for the US$75 million OneWorld team backed by telecoms investor Craig McCaw and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, used affidavits sworn by three senior members of separate Cup syndicates to attack Reeves' credibility.
Team Dennis Conner president Bill Trenkle, David Barnes, executive director of British team GBR Challenge, and Chris Dickson, the sailing director of US challengers Oracle, said in their affidavits that Reeves had tried to sell them design information belonging to OneWorld.
Reeves in turn has said in an affidavit sworn in June that OneWorld had used secrets taken from other teams, an accusation strenuously denied by OneWorld.
"Are you calling these people liars?" Baetz asked Reeves.
"Some of these people are my personal friends, but to answer your question, they are liars, Mr. Baetz," Reeves told the panel.
OneWorld's team includes former Team New Zealand boat designer Laurie Davidson.
They have admitted inadvertently having confidential design documents from Team New Zealand, Prada and 1999 challengers America True and were penalized a point in August after the panel accepted OneWorld's argument that they had not used the information in the design of their two current boats.
OneWorld have a permanent injunction against Reeves after a US judge ruled in their favor in September but wanted him to appear before the two-day panel hearing in an attempt to ward off the latest accusations by Conner and Prada.
Sailing today
OneWorld defeated Conner's team 4-0 in a quarterfinals repechage to reach the Cup challengers semifinals, which are to begin tomorrow.
A finding against OneWorld by the panel would potentially reverse that result, and bring into question the results of many races which preceded it.
The hearing, in Auckland's ivy-covered 161-year-old Northern Club, will continue today.
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