The Lawsuits Thread

[denise]

Just read in USAToday that his managers are suing Johnny, claiming they tried to get him to control spending without success. Thousands spent on wine ,cars , guitars, property.

[brunasouzota]

Just read in USAToday that his managers are suing Johnny, claiming they tried to get him to control spending without success. Thousands spent on wine ,cars , guitars, property.

We already know that.

[sofia]

Interesting that TMG's managers are accusing Johnny of being an extravagant consumerist, when they failed to even pay his income taxes causing Johnny a loss over $ 5.6 million in fees and penalties

[FANtasticJD]

HST's widow Anita has defended Johnny's spending on the funeral. She also talks about the archives that Johnny bought after HST died. I had forgotten about that.

Anita Thompson: Estate of Hunter S. Thompson indebted to Johnny Depp

by Chad Abraham
Aspen Daily News
Saturday, February 4, 2017

The widow of Hunter S. Thompson this week defended the $3 million that actor Johnny Depp spent on the famed author’s funeral in 2005 — a sum listed in a bitter legal dispute between Depp and his former management company — as well as additional money spent on acquiring and preserving Thompson’s archives.

The management company, sued by Depp in December for allegedly mismanaging his funds, filed a counterclaim Tuesday that documented a litany of the actor’s extravagant expenses. They included Depp funding Thompson’s star-studded funeral in Woody Creek, a legendary send-off involving a fist-and-peyote-shaped cannon atop a 153-foot-tall tower that, per his wishes, blasted the author’s ashes over his Owl Farm estate.

“Depp spent lavishly on various luxury items, including spending over $18 million to acquire and renovate a 150-foot yacht,” says The Management Group’s counterclaim. “Depp spent millions more acquiring and/or maintaining at least 45 luxury vehicles. He spent $30,000 per month on expensive wines that he had flown to him around the world for his personal consumption.

“Depp also paid over $3 million to blast from a specially made cannon the ashes of author Hunter Thompson over Aspen, Colorado.”

Anita Thompson said in an email that she was dismayed the management company brought up her late husband’s funeral.

“Hunter and Johnny were very close,” she said of Depp, who portrayed Thompson in the film version of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” “Hunter thought of Johnny like a son. It was a time of chaos and trauma for all of us when Hunter died. Whatever Johnny spent, it was personal for him.”

She said she remembered safety being the primary concern during the monument construction, overseen by engineer Steve Cohn. Today, the ground where the monument stood remains a meditation labyrinth that is used every day at Owl Farm, Thompson said.

“The pristine land above the labyrinth is in the process of being preserved in Hunter’s memory,” she said. “The land was vulnerable to development, as was the wildlife and ecosystem of the land that is adjacent to the wilderness areas on Owl Farm’s 42-acre parcel, where Hunter’s ashes remain, thanks to Johnny.”

Depp also purchased Hunter’s original manuscripts and, eventually, Hunter’s archive. The purchase 
is not mentioned in the counterclaim filing. According to totallygonzo.org, it included some 800 boxes of letters, unpublished material and artifacts. Anita Thompson, who declined to say how much Depp paid for the material, said the actor plans on one day making them available to scholars in a university setting.

“It’s a tremendous value to American scholars and historians,” she said. “During the negotiations, the primary concern was what was best for Hunter’s legacy and his contribution to American literature.”

Citing several journalists who studied Hunter’s output during the final years of his life, she said Hunter wrote more in the last five years of his life than he did in the previous 15 years combined — “a few reasons for that would be that George W. Bush became president, [and] he loved his ESPN column.”

That work includes the book, “Hey Rube, Blood Sport, The Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness,” his last. Anita Thompson provided a link to a YouTube clip of former Pitkin County sheriff Bob Braudis reading, in the author’s famed kitchen, from the book as their friend and renowned defense attorney Gerry Goldstein looks on. During that period of time, he also published the book “Kingdom of Fear”; some 200 columns for espn.com; and “Prisoner of Denver” in Vanity Fair. The latter, written with journalist Mark Seal, focused on the plight of Lisl Auman, a woman wrongfully convicted of the murder of a police officer and sentenced to life without parole. Her cause championed repeatedly by Thompson, Auman was freed several months after the author committed suicide.

Anita Thompson said she is grateful Depp purchased her husband’s archive and that she wants to add to the collection.

“I look forward to him donating the archive that he bought to a university and combining some of my archive of the boxes that Hunter gave to me,” she said.

[Theresa]

It's a very nice piece from her...I added the text to your post, FAN.

Thanks!

[sofia]

Thanks FANtasticJD!

[sofia]

Johnny's lawsuit against the Mandels reminds me of another one that Amaru Entertainment accused Morgan Creek of a scheme of "bullying people into giving them rights they did not acquire"

TMG's managers have defrauded Johnny and now they're using gaslighting, as Johnny's lawyer said, to manipulate public opinion, IMO it's an attempt to try to stop or to weaken Johnny.
I also think that Johnny is very well advised and surely has solid evidence, but I think maybe, a little extra help from us, the public, would be welcome now.
Expressing that we are not so manipulated and believe Johnny, we believe him for everything he has already proven us to be, well this is just my opinion

[sofia]

TMG seems to be trying to use the tactic of postponing the trial, then asking for a new judge.

02/01/2017 CCP 170.6 Application Filed (AGAINST JUDGE: SUSAN BRYANT-DEASON The Mandel Company, Inc)
Filed by Atty for Defendant and Cross-Compl

[jruoss]

"The Depp Conundrum" article mentions that Johnny's earned 650 million over the years as an actor, and we can probably assume the vast majority of that came from 2003 on. TMG claims that Johnny's been averaging 2 million per month in expenses. Even if he's been spending at that rate since joining TMG in 1999 (not likely, he probably couldn't do that until the POTC money started to roll in), that leaves well over 100 million dollars unaccounted for. Was all that money pocketed/spent by TMG for their stellar managing of Johnny's finances?
One thing though is that it seems like somebody should have convinced JD to get away from TMG the first time his taxes were filed late. That alone is inexcusable for a company such as this TMG. And then to have that happen multiple times? I can understand Johnny himself not being focused on these sort of things, but it sure seems like Christi? or someone should have strongly encouraged moving away from TMG a long time ago.

[Sweeney Todd]

Johnny Depp is so broke he had to fire his agent

By Page Six Team

February 6, 2017 | 12:11am

Johnny Depp is in such financial turmoil that he fired his longtime Hollywood agent, saying he couldn’t pay her any more commissions on his movie deals, and made a deal with a rival agency.

Last October, Depp walked away from UTA’s Tracey Jacobs, the famed agent who in 1988 took him from TV’s “21 Jump Street” and made him into an international movie superstar.

A Hollywood source said, “Depp told Jacobs and UTA he no longer wanted to pay their commissions. But they pushed back.” So the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star jumped ship to CAA, which gave him a sweeter deal.

About CAA’s lower commissions, another source said, “They don’t do blue-light specials.” But as far as Depp’s finances, the agency was “sensitive to it when he signed.” On Depp leaving UTA, the insider added, “He was with Tracey Jacobs for a gajillion years — their relationship had run its course. He was looking for a change.” CAA and UTA declined to comment.

Last week, it was revealed in documents filed by Depp’s business managers that he spends an astonishing $2 million a month. Among the examples of his excess were $75 million spent on 14 homes, $18 million on a luxury yacht, and $30,000 per month on wine. Plus, he blew $3 million on shooting the ashes of his hero, author Hunter S. Thompson, out of a cannon over Aspen, Colo. The claims were made in a countersuit filed by The Management Group, who acted as Depp’s legal, tax and accounting advisers from 1999 until he fired them last year. Depp sued TMG in January, claiming they collected $28 million in fees he never agreed to and tried to foreclose on his home.

TMG insists they handled his money responsibly, warned him he was overspending, and “Depp, and Depp alone, is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today,” said TMG’s attorney Michael Kump in the cross-complaint.

On Thursday, Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman said in a statement that TMG had “chosen to employ a reprehensible ‘blame the victim’ strategy in a transparent attempt to . . . deflect away from their malfeasance.”

Depp’s rep didn’t get back to us.

[meeps]

What is "blue-light specials.", please?

[SnoopyDances]

What is "blue-light specials.", please?

This refers to a sales tactic that Kmart used to use.
They had a blue light that they would move around their stores to different merchandise and put it on sale for 5 minutes, causing customers to rush over and see what was featured, then impulsively buy it.

[Chocolat]

What is "blue-light specials.", please?

This refers to a sales tactic that Kmart used to use.
They had a blue light that they would move around their stores to different merchandise and put it on sale for 5 minutes, causing customers to rush over and see what was featured, then impulsively buy it.

Thanks SnoopyDances for the actual definition. I wasn't even sure what it meant other than a short run merchandise sale.

[SnoopyDances]

You have to be pretty old to remember the actual blue light!
But the reference is still used.
I see they are using the "blue light" online now.

[meeps]

Yes, thanks a lot indeed for explaining I have never heard of that before