Johnny Depp Accuses Ex-Managers of “Smear” Campaign

Summary: Johnny Depp has responded to his ex-managers’ claims that he squandered his millions.

Once beloved quirky movie star, Johnny Depp, has dealt with an avalanche of bad press in the past year. First, his now ex-wife, Amber Heard, accused him of physical and emotional abuse. Then his former business managers said he wasted millions of his dollars on junk. But Johnny being Johnny wasn’t going to take those allegations sitting down. Depp has already publicly settled his drama with Heard, and according to People, he is firing back at those business managers, saying they are trying to discredit him with a “smear” campaign.

Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman told People that the managers were lying and had “no viable defense other than to follow through on their stated plan to attempt to smear Mr. Depp.”

In February, Depp, 53, sued his ex-management company, The Management Group (TMG), for $25 million on the basis of fraud. He said that over the years TMG mismanaged his money, costing the actor tens of millions of dollars. Even worse than just incompetence, Depp claimed that TMG stole his money, using his accounts like their personal piggy banks.

“As a result of years of gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud, Mr. Depp lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct,” the complaint said. “In essence, TMG treated Mr. Depp’s income as their own, available to either TMG or third parties to draw upon as desired.”

TMG, which is owned by Joel and Rob Mandel, filed a countersuit that alleged Depp spent an astounding $2 million a month and was the real reason he was going broke. They spoke with The Hollywood Reporter in February and shared details of how Depp caused his own demise.

“In December 2012, Depp faced financial ruin with the impending default on a $5 million bank loan,” TMG said. “The Mandels bailed him out by loaning him $5 million, which he promised to repay by January 2014. Although Depp later changed managers, he never alleged any wrongdoing. In October 2016, with Depp still owing $4.2 million, the Mandels started non-judicial foreclosure proceedings against certain of Depp’s properties. Depp’s lawsuit, filed on the eve of the sale of those properties, is a transparent attempt to derail the foreclosure by concocting and spreading malicious lies about the Mandels. His tactics and lawsuit will fail, and he will be forced to pay back the loan as promised.”

Depp’s legal team told People that they have uncovered additional evidence proving that TMG are thieves. In court documents, Depp’s lawyers claim that TMG committed bank fraud by sneaking “self-serving provisions into a bank loan agreement in a scheme to grab millions of dollars in payments for himself and other advisors on Mr. Depp’s film residuals.”

Additionally, Depp’s attorney Waldman said that TMG failed to do their jobs of paying Depp’s taxes.

“Today we have shown definitively that TMG systematically failed to pay Mr. Depp’s taxes on time for 16 straight years, leading to at least $8.3 million in penalties for Mr. Depp according to the IRS and the law firm that TMG itself hired,” Waldman told People.

TMG has already responded to Depp’s latest statement. They said he is lying and his allegations are rehashed falsehoods.

“Johnny Depp’s amended complaint confirms there’s ‘no there there.’ Depp backs away from his most inflammatory claims in his original complaint and tries to fill the void by rehashing previous false allegations. TMG looks forward to setting the record straight and further exposing Depp’s persistent lies,” a TMG spokesperson said.