The family of Cassandra Sainsbury, 22, has negotiated a $1 million TV deal with 60 Minutes, just days after she pleaded for taxpayer funds to help pay her legal costs.
Channel Nine have reportedly bought an interview with Miss Sainsbury’s mother Lisa Evans and sister Khala Sainsbury, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The family reportedly wanted $1 million to their story, but settled for an ‘eye-watering’ sum.
Miss Sainsbury, 22, remains behind bars in a notorious Colombian prison, after she was arrested on April 11 when 5.8kg of cocaine was found in her suitcase at Bogota airport.
The first mug shot of Cassandra Sainsbury emerges after it was taken during her registration at the Bogota women’s prison
The first photo of Miss Sainsbury (right) from inside her Colombia prison surfaces, showing her smiling at the camera alongside a fellow inmate
While it has not been revealed how much the show paid for the interview, 60 Minutes paid disgraced health blogger Belle Gibson $75,000 for an interview in 2016.
The show also paid a substantial sum to Gold Coast man Gable Tostee, who was cleared of murdering his Tinder date.
The family has pleaded with the public to help fund Miss Sainsbury’s legal costs from the beginning, first appealing for money on a Go Fund Me page following her arrest.
News of the deal comes as the first photo of Miss Sainsbury from inside her Colombia prison surfaces.
Wearing a bright-coloured floral print dress, the Adelaide woman is seen smiling in the photo alongside another prison inmate.
Miss Sainsbury reportedly refused to leave her cell following her arrest, but is slowly adjusting to life inside the overcrowded Bogota prison, Nine News reports.
The first photo of Miss Sainsbury (right) from inside her Colombia prison surfaces, showing her smiling at the camera alongside a fellow inmate
Pictured are the 18 concealed packages of cocaine which Miss Sainsbury believed were headphones
Taxpayers could end up paying for the legal aid of accused cocaine smuggler Cassandra Sainsbury under a government scheme designed to help Australians facing serious criminal charges overseas.
The 22-year-old’s Bogota lawyer confirmed he and Miss Sainsbury filled out a form to apply for financial assistance as her legal costs mounted, News Corp reports.
‘They are looking for state funds in Australia for the legal costs, so she was signing a form for that, to put before the government there,’ Colombian attorney Orlando Herron said.
The personal trainer from Adelaide (pictured) was denied bail and is being held at the overcrowded El Buen Pastor women’s prison until her hearing in two months, her family said
Cassandra Sainsbury faces 25 years in jail after she was arrested with 5.8 kilograms of cocaine at an airport in Colombia
‘I have no idea how much they are looking for. It is to cover the lawyer’s fees in Australia.’
The Attorney-General’s Department may help Australians facing serious criminal charges in an overseas country with the cost of their defence.
Applications can be made to the department for grants to cover legal fees and other expenses – which can often run into hundreds and thousands of dollars.
It is only granted to Australian citizens who are facing either imprisonment for 20 years or more or the death penalty in a foreign country.
According to the guidelines, the government can cover costs associated with legal defence of up to $290 per hour, psychological treatment of up to $2000 and counsel fees of up to $3600 per day.
It can also cover the costs of travelling and flying out legal counsel from Australia to aid Miss Sainsbury during her trial.
The financial scheme paid part of the long-running legal costs of high profile drug smuggling cases including the two executed Bali Nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and Schapelle Corby.
The 22-year-old drew the attention of the DEA when her plane ticket home to Australia via London was reportedly purchased last minute by an ‘unknown party’ in Hong Kong Read
The 22-year-old appeared cheerful as she left the hotel in Bogota, Colombia, carrying a suitcase allegedly packed with cocaine and wearing the same clothes she was arrested in
Cassie Sainsbury left her Moana home for a working holiday in South America on April 3 and was arrested at an airport in Bogota eight days later
The accused drug smuggler is locked in El Buen Pastor prison – where she has been since her arrest on April 11 – and has been advised to plead guilty to avoid the maximum sentence of 25 years.
But Miss Sainsbury has maintained her innocence and claims she was tricked into carrying the 5.8kg of cocaine which she believed were separately wrapped headphones.
Vision from inside Bogota Airport obtained by Nine News shows Miss Sainsbury being led away just moments after handing her passport to an immigration officer on April 11.
The 22-year-old Australian woman had earlier checked-in for her flight to London and was being questioned by the officer who had already been given her travel details when she was intercepted.
Miss Sainsbury had initially appeared calm throughout her exchange with the guard, even smiling and chatting with the officer.
Her mood changed when she was asked why her ticket, which was purchased by a mystery person in Hong Kong, had been bought just hours earlier, before being handed over to a supervisor and marched into a secure area for further questioning.
Staff at the hotel where Miss Sainsbury spent her last night of freedom said she was accompanied by a well-dressed Colombian with a stylish haircut and dark skin everywhere she went.
US drug enforcement authorities tipped off Colombian police about Cassie Sainsbury after her last-minute plane ticket was bought by an ‘unknown party’ in Hong Kong
Miss Sainsbury’s fiance Scott Broadbridge (left) has maintained a strict silence but vows his partner is innocent
CCTV footage of the moment the 22-year-old was detained by police were released
Hotel manager Ingrid Hernandez said Miss Sainsbury had just the one visitor during her stay.
‘Supposedly she met him around the hotel where she was staying, in the first few days when she arrived here,’ Ms Hernandez said, according to the The Daily Telegraph.
‘She didn’t speak Spanish so was supported by him. He helped her, accompanied her, they went everywhere together.
Miss Sainsbury told family she called the man who gave her the packages when she was arrested, but he hung up on her and reportedly destroyed the phone.
She said his name was Angelo, but she had no further information.
The hotel manager said they had no record of the mystery man either.
Miss Sainsbury can be seen walking up to an immigration officer with her passport
Photographs of her boarding pass and passport (pictured) have also come to light after they were seized by police
Cassandra Sainsbury could apply for parole and return to Australia if she pleads guilty – as her lawyer (pictured) says she bought the headphones to sell back home NOT as gifts for her bridal party
Accused drug smuggler Cassandra Sainsbury is reportedly refusing to leave her prison cell El Buen Pastor (pictured)
‘He came a few times, the receptionists told me, but we don’t have a record of him because he didn’t stay the night. She said this guy was very friendly, he spoke English and Spanish,’ she said.
The hotel’s deputy manager also saw Miss Sainsbury with a black mystery man.
‘I did see her one time with a man. The man, he was tall, he was black and they were talking in the lobby before they left the hotel,’ they told Nine News.
Staff also said she spent most of her time inside the room of the hotel, which was situated in a notorious downtown Bogota neighbourhood.
She is reportedly ‘permanently crying’ inside notorious Colombian prison El Buen Pastor where she remains behind bars.
Sources from inside the prison said Miss Sainsbury was not in a good mental state inside the small, overcrowded cell where she was kept with other prisoners.