Johnny Depp won a major legal victory in an attempt to refute ex-wife Amber Heard’s claim that she donated her divorce settlement to charity.
On Friday, July 30, the Daily Mail reported that a New York Supreme Court judge had granted 23 of 24 claims in the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s “contravention motion”. This means that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) must produce the documents regarding Heard’s donations. The only motion that Justice Arthur Engoron dismissed concerned documents relating to Heard’s role as “brand ambassador” within the ACLU.
According to the report, the judge claimed that Depp ‘discharged the initial onus of setting out the circumstances of the reasons underlying the subpoena …
On February 26, 2020, Heard submitted a witness statement to the court which read: “I have remained financially independent of him. [Depp] the whole time we were together and the full amount of my divorce settlement was donated to charity. “
In 2016, the couple divorced and Heard received $ 7 million. She pledged in a London court to donate the entire amount split between the ACLU and the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. The outlet revealed in January that the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital had received just $ 100,000 of its $ 3.5 million pledge. According to the report, Heard only donated $ 450,000 to the ACLU.
Depp’s legal team noted that Heard had confirmed that she was donating the amount in court and numerous media interviews. Heard’s attorney explained that she would be paying installments and needed money for legal fees against Depp.
Following their public separation, Depp and Heard have both accused each other of domestic violence. Heard’s audio admitting to “hitting” Depp was submitted during Depp’s recent libel lawsuit against UK tabloid The Sun, which called the actor a “woman’s thresher”.
At a hearing into the case, Judge Andrew Nichol said that “donating the $ 7 million to Heard charity is hardly the act one would expect from a researcher of ‘gold’ and ruled in favor of the tabloid.
Depp filed a separate defamation complaint against Heard who his team said created a “hoax” account of being a domestic violence survivor in a 2018 interview, which defamed Depp.
Depp was fired from Warner Brothers ‘Fantastic Beasts franchise while Heard will remain in Warner Brothers’ Aquaman franchise. Depp fans have created an online petition calling for Heard’s removal from the upcoming Aquaman 2 movie. The petition garnered nearly 2 million signatures, but the film’s producer recently confirmed that Heard will not be fired.
