Heard blamed Depp’s defamation case for not being able to make the payment
Amber Heard has admitted she failed to donate $3.5million (£2.8m) she pledged to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after earlier claiming to have done so.
And she blamed Johnny Depp for it.
Speaking on the stand on Monday, Heard said Depp’s defamation case has stopped her from fulfilling her pledge to donate her entire $7million (£5.6m) divorce settlement.
“Ms. Heard — respectfully, that’s not my question”: #JohnnyDepp’s attorney repeatedly told #AmberHeard “that’s not my question” during a tense back-and-forth about her non-fulfilled pledge to donate her $7 million settlement to charity. @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/PXZHR3SQbp
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) May 16, 2022
The actress has said – including while under oath in Depp’s 2020 libel case in the UK – that she had donated the entire settlement to charity.
Appearing on Dutch talk show RTL Late Night in 2018, Heard said, “$7million in total was donated – I split it between the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. I wanted nothing.”
Heard told the court that she was yet to make the full donation “because Johnny sued me for $50million in March of 2019”.
Depp's attorney Ben Chew's expression…
He hands a sticky note to Vasquez and then she questions #AmberHeard about having the full $7M settlement for 13 months prior to being sued by #JohnnyDepp and she didn't donate it in that amount of time. pic.twitter.com/UhpWudBryc— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) May 16, 2022
Depp is suing Heard for defamation over an op-ed she wrote in 2018 which he believes inferred he had physically and sexually abused her while they were married from 2015 to 2017. Heard is counter-suing for $100m.
Heard told the court that she wants to make the donation: “I fully intend to honor all of my pledges. I would love for him to stop suing me so I can.”
ACLU Chief Operating Officer, and General Counsel, Terence Dougherty, earlier told the trial that only $1.3m has been donated by Heard or on her behalf.
Of that money, Heard contributed $350,000 directly in December 2018. Depp paid $100,000 and another $350,000 came from a fund at Fidelity, an investment company.
Another $500,000 payment came from an account at investment firm Vanguard, which Dougherty said he believed was set up by Elon Musk who Heard dated.
Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft asked her client was she accepted a $7m settlement from Depp.
She answered: “I didn’t care about the money. I was told if I didn’t agree to a number it could be overturned, we would never settle. I took far less than what they were offering and what I was entitled to.”
Depp’s accountant and business manager Edward White said the “total consideration” paid to Heard by Depp was $14.25m.
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