Aquaman actress Amber Heard and her former husband, Johnny Depp ended their marriage back in 2016, but still the legal battles are ongoing till this day. The 57-year-old actor reportedly paid US$7 million in a divorce settlement to the actress. Heard previously pledged that she will donate the divorce settlement to the ACLU and the CHLA.
The new report claims, which has now been confirmed by ACLU and CHLA, that the actress never donated the settlement to either of the institution. Depp had filed a lawsuit against the British tabloid, the Sun that labelled him a wife-beater in a 2018 article. The High Court of Justice in November 2020 gave a verdict that the Heard’s allegations of domestic violence were substantially true.
In the ruling, the judge also mentioned that fact that she donated the divorce settlement to the charity. However, Depp’s legal team argued that Heard’s false information about payments affected the ruling. They further added that Heard orchestrated a calculated and manipulative lie to gain a favorable impression during the ruling. Johnny Depp later expressed his frustration that he didn’t receive a fair trial.
The Court of Appeal rejected Depp’s appeal to overturn the ruling in March 2021
With the fresh evidence, Depp’s legal team appealed to overturn the November 2020 ruling. However, the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal in March 2021. The justices who reviewed the appeal, claimed that the actor cannot challenge the High Court’s ruling that he assaulted his former partner Amber Heard. James Dingemans and Nicholas Underhill also mentioned that the High Court’s ruling was full and fair and there weren’t any errors, or mistake of law.
Both the judges also argued that the divorce money didn’t influence judge Nicol’s ruling. High Court Justice Andrew Nicol ruled that the allegations from Depp’s ex-wife are substantially true, following a three-week trial in July 2020. The ruling negatively affected Depp’s career as he was forced to resign from the role of Gellert Grindelwald in the popular Fantastic Beasts series.
The duo is again going to appear before Fairfax County court in April 2022 after Depp filed a defamation lawsuit against the actress for her op-ed in the Washington Post.
