Lachlan Murdoch and wife Sarah arrive in Sydney via private jet ahead of his defamation showdown

He’s in the midst of a legal battle with left-wing news website Crikey. 

But media mogul Lachlan Murdoch spent Saturday spectating another high-profile  showdown over the weekend – the AFL Grand Final between the Geelong Cats and  Sydney Swans. 

On Saturday night, Lachlan and his model wife Sarah were spotted touching down on their private jet in Sydney as they returned from Melbourne after the game. 

The couple joined by their friends, Seven Group CEO Ryan Stokes and his wife Claire, all of whom were seen disembarking from the aircraft. 

Clutching their carry-on bags, the foursome were seen chatting to airport staff on the tarmac.   

While the men both wore black suits, Sarah looked glamorous in a black duster coat, matching trousers and a leather tote bag. 

The foursome were seen disembarking the private aircraft one-by-one as airport staffers stood below on the tarmac 

Claire also looked chic in her orange coat and jeans, completing her look with a white handbag.

Murdoch’s arrival in Sydney coincides with his legal proceedings against an Australian left-wing news website. 

Murdoch claims an article published by the website Crikey made baseless, defamatory suggestions that he conspired with Donald Trump to overthrow the U.S. government.

Clutching their carry-on bags, the foursome were seen chatting to airport staff on the tarmac

Sarah looked glamorous in a black duster coat, matching trousers and a leather tote bag

In a defamation lawsuit filed in the Federal Court, Mr Murdoch is suing over a June 29 opinion piece by politics editor Bernard Keane regarding then hearings into Trump and the January 6 Capitol riots.

In the piece, which was widely shared on social media, Keane called the former U.S. president ‘treacherous’ and an ‘unhinged traitor’ and suggested the Murdoch family, which owns and controls Fox News, was an ‘unindicted co-conspirator’.

While the article did not mention Lachlan Murdoch by name, instead referring to the Murdoch family, the Fox executive chairman claims he was defamed and suffered serious damage to his reputation.

Murdoch’s arrival in Sydney coincides with his legal proceedings against an Australian left-wing news website

Murdoch claims an article published by the website Crikey made baseless, defamatory suggestions that he conspired with Donald Trump to overthrow the U.S. government

‘Murdoch has been gravely injured in his character, his personal reputation and his professional reputation as a business person and company director and has suffered and will continue to suffer substantial hurt, distress and embarrassment,’ documents he filed with the court say.

The lawsuit targets the publisher behind the Crikey masthead, Private Media, as well as Keane and editor-in-chief Peter Fray.

Mr Murdoch said he had not been approached for comment prior to the June 29 article and subsequent related pieces published on the Crikey website, and had only complained to Private Media four times in a five-year period.

He is also seeking injunctions barring the publication and promotions of the allegedly defamatory articles.

In a defamation lawsuit filed in the Federal Court, Mr Murdoch is suing over a June 29 opinion piece by politics editor Bernard Keane regarding then hearings into Trump and the January 6 Capitol riots

Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch are seen at a 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills