The multinational legal battles between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have only become less charitable.
Like the once married Rum Diary co-stars in the direction of a trial on May 3 in Depp’s $ 50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard, the claims have now reappeared Aquaman star is actually donating her $ 7 million 2016 divorce deal to charity as promised.
A clearly planted story in the UK Daily mail it seems to be aimed at the Pirates of the Caribbean actor the new trial he wants against co-pony newspaper The sun about the fact that it was described in print as a ‘woman’.
“Mr Depp’s attempt to plant stories in the media criticizing Amber for not yet complying with all the donations she made to charity is another desperate attempt to divert attention from the findings. of the British court on allegations that Mr Depp committed domestic abuse and violence, lawyer Elaine Bredehoft said in a statement to Deadline on Thursday Mail story appears online.
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It would seem, perhaps, but not untrue.
While Depp initially handed over $ 100,000 of a promised $ 3.5 million to the Children’s Hospital Foundation in Heard’s name in 2016, the actress asked the actress in a 2019 letter: “whether you have knowledge or CHLA further delivery ( s) on your behalf would expect or the pledge will not be fulfilled. ”
Heard told the British High Court last year and on several other occasions over the past few years that she had donated the full $ 7 million to CHLA and the ACLU after a few initial brackets in the deal with her ex-husband. In fact, in his biting decision in November 2020 against Depp in the defamation case against Rupert Murdoch owner Sun, Judge Andrew Nichol made a clear point in praising Heard as Team Depp sought to sharpen the lawyer’s motivations against domestic violence. “Her donation of the $ 7 million to charity is hardly the act one would expect from a gold digger,” the Supreme Court judge said. The sun ‘‘s claims against Depp were “substantially true.”
Today, Heard’s attorney in Virginia’s defamation case and her client’s $ 100 million counterclaim remarkably fell back on the full extent of the actress’ benefits.
“Amber has already been responsible for seven figures in donations to charity and intends to continue to contribute and ultimately fulfill her promise,” Bredehoft, the Reston, found. ‘Amber, however, was delayed with the purpose because Mr. Depp filed a lawsuit against her, and as a result, she was forced to spend millions of dollars to get Mr. Defend Depp’s false accusations against her. ‘
While Depp’s allegations are implicitly confirmed that the donations were not made in full, Bredehoft’s statement complicates the matter in another way. Depp sued Heard in 2019 for defamation, more than two years after the divorce agreement. What was the big money Heard had to pay out to lawyers from 2017 to 2019?
This question may now be crucial in the UK. Though one appeal attempt has not been seen anywhere, as Depp’s British lawyers partly want a new trial because the judge of the first trial ‘could not properly assess her credibility on the basis of documentary evidence, photographs, recordings or otherwise. ”
Judge Nicol ‘concluded that the appellant was guilty of serious physical assault without taking into account or even admitting that Ms Heard was untrue in her testimony, without testing her report on the documentary evidence and the testimony of other witnesses, and without giving any evidence. findings that he does not believe those witnesses, ”Barrister David Sherborne wrote to the Court of Appeal on Christmas Eve.
Deadline asked Hearde’s attorney, Bredehoft, whether the fact that her client did not donate all of the $ 7 million settlement, as she said it could affect the US defamation case (s) or the British case. “No. They have nothing to do with each other,” replied PC partner Charlson Bredehoft Cohen & Brown.
The ACLU did not respond to a request from Deadline regarding the status of donations from Heard. CHLA has, sort of. “Due to the circumstances of the lawsuit, CHLA has been legally barred from disclosing details of the case,” a Los Angeles Children’s Hospital spokeswoman said tonight.
Representatives of Depp did not have a timely statement when contacted by Deadline. But Adam Deutman, a longtime legal adviser, did respond online to Bredehoft’s remark that Heard ‘finally’ fulfilled the donations by ‘posting’ is this the same as a four-year media spasm of the $ 7 million donation? Is this the same thing that was said in court under oath? No, it’s not the same thing. ”
Waldman is frequently mentioned in the documents by Heard’s attorneys in the Virginia case and is no longer directly represented by Depp in the case. Waldman is currently being sought for a deposit that Heard’s team says he is diving into. “Like Mr Depp, who refused to appear for his dismissal, it appears that Mr Waldman or the court’s clear rules on deposits do not apply to him,” a January 4 memorandum said. in opposition to Heard’s lawyers against Team Depp’s motion for a protective order.
Since it failed to drop Heard’s $ 100 million counterclaims in Virginia court earlier this week, it’s probably no coincidence that the donations dispute is now being taken to a new level. In December, Fairfax County Judge Bruce White did grant Depp’s desire to hand over Heard her decade-old arrest record and documentation on how she allocated the funds from the 2016 divorce settlement.
While the Oscar nominee has lost in other major parts of the ‘wide range of irrelevant, bridging and privileged discovery’ (to lodge the December 11 opposition of Heard), documentation suddenly appears that could condemn the defendant and plaintiff. in the British press – the other front in the couple’s ongoing lawsuit.
The now ax Fantastic beats actor Heard sued in the Old Dominion in March 2019 after she a Washington Post about the victim of domestic abuse. The play never mentioned Depp, but the already litigious actor said it cost him a concert in a planned Pirates of the Caribbean reload. The action further stated that it was actually Depp who was the victim in the stormy relationship: “Mrs. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is an offender. ”
In that case, carefully preserved documents will be made public, so to speak. On advice from both sides, on January 5, Judge White ordered that Depp’s financial information and tax returns be no longer classified as “confidential under the protection order.”
Given the full extent of his wealth and seemingly excessive spending habits that were revealed in a previous case, since he was agreed with his former business executives, Depp can not care too much about his financial condition being there again. .
Yet perception, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.