Johnny Depp Reportedly Wins Motion To Reveal If Ex Amber Heard Donated The Promised $7 Million From Their Divorce Settlement To Charity
It's a good day for Johnny Depp, as the embattled actor took home a major win in his lengthy court battle against ex-wife Amber Heard.
Thanks to Judge Arthur Engoron — who granted 23 of Depp's 24 requests — the Pirates of the Caribbean star will finally discover if the blonde babe stuck to her word and donated part of the $7 million from their divorce settlement to the America Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
After Heard and Depp's explosive, headline-making 2016 split, the 35-year-old insisted she didn’t want her ex hubby's cash and would split the settlement, with her donating to both the ACLU and Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
However, Depp and his lawyers have been vigorously trying to prove that Heard's seemingly kind-hearted gesture was a complete scam. They have spent years trying to track down how much she actually donated — and now they're closer than ever to figuring it out.
After the ACLU refused to cooperate and hand over the documents to prove whether they actually received payment from Heard, the New York Supreme Court judge granted the actor's "motion to compel" the union. The judge's decision means the organization must produce the paperwork related to Heard's charitable endeavors, the Daily Mail reported.
The only request Engoron did not grant was for documents relating to the Aquaman star's role as a "brand ambassador" for the ACLU. Depp "has satisfied the initial burden of stating the circumstances of reasons underlying the subpoena… the ACLU has failed to demonstrate that the information sought it utterly irrelevant to the action," said the judge.
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"Thus, for the reasons stated herein, the petition is granted and denied in part and respondents are ordered to comply with all subpoenas with the exception of… documents pertaining to Ms Heard’s role as a brand ambassador for the ACLU," Engoron concluded.
The handsome hunk's victory comes after it was reported in January that documents produced by the Children's Hospital Los Angeles suggested they received $100,000 from Heard, despite her promise of a $3.5 million "gift."
OK! previously reported Depp lost his bruising defamation case last year against U.K.'s The Sun newspaper after they labeled him a "wife beater" following Heard's 2018 op-ed where she detailed her experience as an alleged abuse victim. (Heard did not specifically name Depp as her abuser.)
A British High Court judge declared in November that the outlet's depiction of the Edward Scissorhands actor was "substantially true" after hearing Heard's numerous claims of abuse she suffered at the hands of Depp. While deciding on Depp's case against The Sun, Judge Andrew Nicol cited Heard's pledge — made last February during her witness hearing — to donate her divorce settlement to charity.
"[Amber's] donation of the $7 million to charity is hardly the act one would expect of a gold-digger," he said at the time, seemingly referring to the claim made by the outlet's lawyer, insisting Depp was obsessed with the idea that Heard was a "scumbag gold-digger."
In March, the court denied Depp permission to appeal the judge's ruling, stating “the appeal has no real prospect of success and that there is no other compelling reason for it to be heard," OK! reported.
When Depp and his lawyers tried to challenge the ruling by raising questions about the "missing" charity payments — noting the court was fed a "calculated and manipulated lie [by Amber], designed to achieve a potent favorable impression" — the panel of judges reportedly said their claims were “pure speculation, and in our view very unlikely” that the fate of the divorce money influenced their decision.
