The Lawsuits Thread

[Ingrid 3]

I'm not saying I believe everything I read. But...there are things that are undeniable. More than the financial problems, what I found most upsetting was the comments about the filming of the Pirate movie and his possible falling out with Tracey and even his sister. Since Johnny chooses not to speak, as his supporters, we are just trying to grasp the truth about someone we are worried about. To follow blindly, not wanting to ever accept anything that doesn't praise, is what 14-year-followers of boy bands do.
I've always wanted to be open to actual actions and what you see happening. I hope, more than anything, that he's in a good place.It's been obvious, by his appearance in the past couple of years that he wasn't in a good place. It was very hurtful to see him like that. I knew that Bruckheimer was very quiet during this shoot, not like the other times. There were rumors of problems and delays but we hoped it was not true. When someone we care so much about is having problems, acting like they don't exist is not helpful. We have to consider the source, when things are said, but when a long-time close friend of his, from Austin, makes a very angry remark about Johnny on his web page, it makes you wonder.

Which friend are you talking about? I must have missed this.

[Lbock]

I'm not saying I believe everything I read. But...there are things that are undeniable. More than the financial problems, what I found most upsetting was the comments about the filming of the Pirate movie and his possible falling out with Tracey and even his sister. Since Johnny chooses not to speak, as his supporters, we are just trying to grasp the truth about someone we are worried about. To follow blindly, not wanting to ever accept anything that doesn't praise, is what 14-year-followers of boy bands do.
I've always wanted to be open to actual actions and what you see happening. I hope, more than anything, that he's in a good place.It's been obvious, by his appearance in the past couple of years that he wasn't in a good place. It was very hurtful to see him like that. I knew that Bruckheimer was very quiet during this shoot, not like the other times. There were rumors of problems and delays but we hoped it was not true. When someone we care so much about is having problems, acting like they don't exist is not helpful. We have to consider the source, when things are said, but when a long-time close friend of his, from Austin, makes a very angry remark about Johnny on his web page, it makes you wonder.

I don't know what's going on with him and Tracey, but I'm sure everything is fine between him and Christi. When he gave a speech in Arkansas, he read it from a paper which sent from Christi's e-mail. She's still his manager. And I think Johnny knows about his financial problems since the early 2016, but in July 2016, we still saw Johnny and Christi together and they looked really close.
About the rumor of the problems on set, and that Jerry was quiet than other times, I don't think so. Jerry posted a few pics there and really protective of Johnny in this article.
For me, I want to believe the real sources with their names like Jerry, Bailey and Singer than those anonymous sources.
I know he has some problems (I believe that he's always being late), or drinking sometimes. And it's good to acknowledge his problems. But I prefer to not make it a bigger problem than it really is.

Christi is with him in Shanghai in red carpet.

[flo116]

I'm not saying I believe everything I read. But...there are things that are undeniable. More than the financial problems, what I found most upsetting was the comments about the filming of the Pirate movie and his possible falling out with Tracey and even his sister. Since Johnny chooses not to speak, as his supporters, we are just trying to grasp the truth about someone we are worried about. To follow blindly, not wanting to ever accept anything that doesn't praise, is what 14-year-followers of boy bands do.
I've always wanted to be open to actual actions and what you see happening. I hope, more than anything, that he's in a good place.It's been obvious, by his appearance in the past couple of years that he wasn't in a good place. It was very hurtful to see him like that. I knew that Bruckheimer was very quiet during this shoot, not like the other times. There were rumors of problems and delays but we hoped it was not true. When someone we care so much about is having problems, acting like they don't exist is not helpful. We have to consider the source, when things are said, but when a long-time close friend of his, from Austin, makes a very angry remark about Johnny on his web page, it makes you wonder.

Which friend are you talking about? I must have missed this.

I missed this also...What long time friend from Austin.???

[BonBon]

Which friend are you talking about? I must have missed this.

I missed this also...What long time friend from Austin.???

Maybe Bill Carter? But I haven't read anything!

[Judymac]

I also thought the longtime friend was Bill Carter. I did not see anything negative about Johnny. I would love to know what was said. Maybe somebody else put something negative about Johnny on Bill Carter's social media page. I just can't see Bill Carter engaging in a social media war with someone who is (or was) his friend.

[nebraska]

And then there is the theory that there is no such thing as "bad" publicity. It is like the advertisements you really, really hate. They have your attention, and that is their goal.

[Lbock]

EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Depp demands judge unseal whistleblower testimony in fraud case against his ex-managers who claim the actor spent $75m on 14 homes, $18m on a yacht and $3m to blast author Hunter S Thompson's ashes from a custom cannon

By Kaileen Gaul For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 12:20 EDT, 17 May 2017 | UPDATED: 12:20 EDT, 17 May 2017

Johnny Depp filed a motion this week demanding the judge allow a whistleblower testimony be unsealed in his $25 million fraud lawsuit against his ex-managers.

The 52-year-old actor asked that the documents be unsealed for the public despite opposition from Robert and Joel Mandel of The Management Group (TMG), who he fired in 2016.

In April, it was revealed Depp is $40 million in debt.

In Los Angeles County Superior Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, Depp accuses his former business managers of launching a global media smear campaign against him.

He said he paid the company $28 million in fees for legal, business, tax and accounting services to TMG from 1996 to 2016.

The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star accused the Mandels and TMG of negligence, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty for failing to pay his taxes on time resulting in $5.6 million in federal tax penalties and interest.

Depp says the managers loaned $10 million of his money to third parties without permission and kept messy financial records. He accused them of using his money to invest in business' the Mandels had a stake in.

His business managers claimed they took appropriate measures to manage the actor's finances and warned him about him his overspending multiple times. They blamed him solely for his dire financial situation alleging he spent $2 million a month to maintain his lavish lifestyle.

TMG said Depp spent $75 million on 14 homes, $18 million on a luxury yacht, $1 million to archive his Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia and $3 million to blast author Hunter S Thompson's ashes from a custom cannon.

Depp said he actually spent $5million on the cannon.

Every month, TMG said Depp spent $30,000 on expensive wine, $300,000 on 40 full-time employees, $150,000 on security for him and his family and $200,000 in private jet costs.

Depp said he uncovered significant new information including documents and a testimony from a former TMG employee whistleblower. The employee, who was fired from TMG last month, said she could back up Depp's claims of money mismanagement by the company.

The actor filed docs to amend his complaint to add the new allegations but TMG demanded the documents be sealed in the case.

Depp demanded the court refuse to grant TMG's motion to seal the information and for the name of the former employee, the fact she worked on Depp's account at the company, that she was fired for complaining about TMG's mismanagement along with her statement that 'she knows all the dirt and all the thieves'.

Then on May 15th, Depp filed new docs demanding the judge allow this information into the case and for it to be public.

The actor explains he learned through an internal message and other sources that the former TMG employee aka the whistleblower was aware of serious wrongdoing crucial to his claims against his business managers.

He argues the information reveals the depth of misconduct his former manager Joel Mandel undertook on behalf of the company.

Depp says the only reason they want the information hidden from the public is because TMG is worried about their reputation.

He said they do not like how it makes them look. He accuses them of including a wide range of inaccurate and irrelevant materials in their court documents as an 'attack pulpit' to smear him and the whistleblower.

He points out to an interview his ex-managers did with the Hollywood Reporter where TMG they claimed the whistleblower was a 'low-level clerk who promised revenge'.

[Theresa]

Johnny Depp Allowed "Whistleblower" in Business Manager Suit Despite "Perjury" Challenge

by Ashley Cullins
Hollywood Reporter
MAY 26, 2017 9:50am PT


TMG says the "whistleblower" is merely a disgruntled ex-employee who perjured herself.

Johnny Depp can amend his lawsuit against his former business managers and add claims related to an ex-employee who was allegedly fired for pointing out red flags in the handling of his finances, a California judge has ruled.

Depp first sued The Management Group, and Joel and Robert Mandel, in January. He claims they cost him millions in tax penalties and failed to pay themselves back on a $5 million bridge loan that he didn't know about resulting in non-judicial foreclosure proceedings on his Hollywood Hills home. They countersued, claiming they did everything the could to reign in his excessive spending and his financial woes are of his own making.

In March, Depp's attorneys asked the court to allow them to amend the complaint and add the testimony from an ex-TMG employee. TMG opposed the motion, arguing that some of the new allegations are based on confidential information that should be sealed — and that the woman perjured herself during her testimony.

L.A. Superior Court judge Teresa Beaudet disagreed in a tentative ruling that was accepted by both parties without argument Friday morning. "Plaintiffs argue and show in their supportive declaration that the allegations contain critical pieces of information regarding wrongdoing by the Defendants which are central to several of the counts in the FAC, including a new cause of action," she writes. "The misconduct Plaintiffs allege potentially raises a question of whether there has been, at the very least, a breach of fiduciary duty by Defendants to Plaintiff. It does not matter whether the new information gained supports an existing claim or a new one, as long as it can be adjudicated."

Beaudet also found there were no grounds to seal the testimony from the firm's former employee — even though she signed a confidentiality agreement.

"Although the Defendants state that the proposed redactions relate to 'private business information relating to the operations of TMG,' none of the allegations relate to trade secrets, proprietary protocols, or procedures of TMG, exposure of which would give a competitor an industry advantage," writes Beaudet.

The judge also wasn't swayed by arguments that the employee perjured herself. "They provide no statutory or jurisprudential support for the proposition that allegations must be sealed if they are based on misrepresentations under oath," she writes. "It is not appropriate for the Court to seal any allegation that a party argues is false or misleading; were the Court to do so, court proceedings would almost always be completely confidential and hidden from the public, as it is the very nature of litigation that the truth is contested. This result would clearly not be in the public interest."

TMG claims the ex-employee, Janine Rayburn, is "a serial liar with no credibility whatsoever" and that she never had a high-level role on Depp's account.

During her deposition, Rayburn gave her opinion that TMG didn't make Depp aware of his finances and claimed Joel Mandel asked her to notarize the actor's signature when he wasn't present and asked her to alter a financial statement in connection with a bank loan.

A spokesman for TMG sent The Hollywood Reporter a statement in response to the decision. "Johnny Depp and his counsel know that Janine Rayburn is a serial liar who perjured herself during her deposition who also lied on her resume when she applied for a job at The Management Group," he says. "Rayburn only worked at TMG for a brief time and was fired seven years ago. Rayburn fully admitted that she has no idea what conversations took place between Depp and TMG regarding Depp’s financial situation. We welcome the opportunity to further question Ms. Rayburn in Court, exposing her many lies."

Depp is represented by Adam Waldman and Matthew Kanny and Benjamin Chew of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. TMG is represented by Michael Kump and Suann MacIsaac of Kinsella Weitzman.

[Lbock]

critical pieces of information regarding wrongdoing by the Defendants which are central to several of the counts in the FAC, including a new cause of action," she writes. "The misconduct Plaintiffs allege potentially raises a question of whether there has been, at the very least, a breach of fiduciary duty by Defendants to Plaintiff. It does not matter whether the new information gained supports an existing claim or a new one, as long as it can be adjudicated."

So hope this holds up

[Lbock]

Johnny Depp’s whopping tax bill: Judge agrees actor can go after ex-managers for payment

POSTED BY DEBBIE L. SKLAR ON MAY 26, 2017 IN HOLLYWOOD

Johnny Depp can amend his lawsuit against his former business managers — in which the actor alleges their misconduct caused him to lose tens of millions of dollars — to add allegations that his income tax and penalties were nearly $3 million more than originally thought, a judge ruled Friday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa Beaudet also said Depp’s lawyers can add allegations based on the deposition testimony of a former Management Group employee who alleges she was fired for speaking out regarding the handling of the actor’s finances.

Beaudet adopted a tentative ruling she issued in the case Thursday. The attorneys for Depp and the Management Group accepted the decision and no arguments were heard.

Depp filed his original lawsuit on Jan. 13. Depp, seeking $25 million in damages, alleges that mismanagement by the Management Group was so extensive that he has had to sell some of his assets to pay for the losses.

The poor oversight included the Management Group’s failure to pay the actor’s income taxes on time from 2000-14, which resulted in $5.6 million in penalties, the original complaint alleges.

The revised suit states that the amount of the penalties and interest is now believed to be $8.2 million, based on an expert’s review of the 53-year- old “Pirates of the Caribbean” star’s 2015 federal income tax payments and his state income tax payments from 2008-15.

In March, Depp’s attorneys asked the court to allow them to amend the complaint and add the testimony from former Management Group employee Janine Rayburn regarding the alleged mismanagement of Depp’s assets. The request was granted by Beaudet.

The Management Group issued a statement regarding Rayburn’s deposition testimony.

“Johnny Depp and his counsel know that Janine Rayburn is a serial liar who perjured herself during her deposition who also lied on her resume when she applied for a job at the Management Group,” the statement reads. “Rayburn only worked at TMG for a brief time and was fired seven years ago. Rayburn fully admitted that she has no idea what conversations took place between Depp and the (Mandel Co.) regarding Depp’s financial situation.”

The Management Group countersued Depp on Jan. 31, contending the actor’s financial woes are all his own.

“Depp’s extravagant spending has often been marked by a lack of impulse control,” the countersuit states.

—City News Service

[Lbock]

Johnny Depp Catches a Break in Lawsuit Against Ex-Managers

Judge says that “Pirates of the Caribbean’ star can use testimony from former employee of the management group he’s suing
Tim Kenneally | May 26, 2017 @ 1:17 PM

Johnny Depp is walking into the weekend with some good news — and we’re not talking about the reviews of his new movie.

“Pirates of the Caribbean” star Depp caught a break in his lawsuit against his former managers on Friday, after a judge ruled that he could use testimony from a former employee of the management firm in an amended complaint.

In a tentative order, a judge shot down The Management Group’s motion to seal allegations stemming from a deposition of the former employee, clearing the way for the actor to use the allegations in his case.

In the order, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the judge noted, “The misconduct Plaintiffs allege potentially raises a question of whether there has been, at the very least, a breach of fiduciary duty by Defendants to Plaintiff. It does not matter whether the new information gained supports an existing claim or a new one, as long as it can be adjudicated. The harm to Defendants, therefore, is not an ‘overriding interest’ outweighing the strong presumption of public accessibility to court records.”

The judge likewise shot down The Management Group’s concerns that the former employer might have perjured herself.


“Finally, Defendants’ arguments that the allegations should be redacted because they are falsehoods or perjury are misplaced. They provide no statutory or jurisprudential support for the proposition that allegations must be sealed if they are based on misrepresentations under oath,” the ruling reads. “It is not appropriate for the Court to seal any allegation that a party argues is false or misleading; were the Court to do so, court proceedings would almost always be completely confidential and hidden from the public, as it is the very nature of litigation that the truth is contested. This result would clearly not be in the public interest.”

Depp sued The Management Group in January, accusing his former managers of “self-dealing and gross misconduct.” Among the misdeeds that Depp, who is seeking $25 million, alleges: Taking a 5 percent commission of the actor’s income, “in some cases regardless of whether Mr. Depp actually received any income himself or not” — a commission that was “exorbitant, excessive, and far outstripped the actual value of services TMG would be performing for Mr. Depp.”

The firm promptly counter-sued, accusing Depp of living “an ultra-extravagant lifestyle” that he “simply could not afford.”

“[T]hroughout the entire 17-year period that TMG represented Depp, Depp lived an ultra-extravagant lifestyle that knowingly cost Depp in excess of $2 million per month to maintain, which he simply could not afford,” the cross-complaint reads.

Among the ill-considered extravagances alleged in the cross-complaint: Spending $75 million on 14 residences throughout the world; dropping more than $18 million to buy and renovate a 150-foot yacht; and spending $30,000 a month on “expensive wine that [Depp] had flown to him around the world for his personal consumption.”

In a statement provided to TheWrap on Friday, a TMG spokesman branded the former employee as a “serial liar.”

“Johnny Depp and his counsel know that Janine Rayburn is a serial liar who perjured herself during her deposition who also lied on her resume when she applied for a job at The Management Group. Rayburn only worked at TMG for a brief time and was fired seven years ago,” the spokesman said. “Rayburn fully admitted that she has no idea what conversations took place between Depp and TMG regarding Depp’s financial situation. We welcome the opportunity to further question Ms. Rayburn in Court, exposing her many lies.”

In his own statement, Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman said that Team Depp is “gratified” by Friday’s decision, adding that the former employee’s testimony reveals “egregious misconduct” by the Mandels.

“We are gratified by the Judge’s decision to unseal the testimony and supporting documents of the whistleblower who managed Mr Depp’s day to day affairs for the Mandels for over two years,” Wadman said. “Having failed to conceal from the public whistleblower testimony that reveals some of the egregious misconduct Mandel asked her to commit on Mr Depp’s account, the Mandels now predictably focus their efforts on smearing their former employee, just as they have attempted to smear Mr Depp.”

“The Mandels ‘everyone is lying’ defense is crumbling under the mounting body of evidence coming from multiple directions – whistleblowers, forensic accountants, lawyers, and tax experts,” Waldman continued.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

[jruoss]

Who knows how long this could go on, but the above sounds very positive in Johnny's direction. Glad he's fighting these bastards tooth and nail, sure sounds like they've got things to hide.

[Lbock]

Who knows how long this could go on, but the above sounds very positive in Johnny's direction. Glad he's fighting these bastards tooth and nail, sure sounds like they've got things to hide.

Last I saw trial set for January 2018 5-15 days

[Lbock]

Johnny Depp ally doesn’t really know him and lied on her résumé
By Claire Atkinson May 26, 2017 | 5:33pmpagesix


The woman who sided with Johnny Depp in the actor’s long-running legal battle against his former managers lied on her résumé and exaggerated the extent that she knows the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor, court papers unsealed on Friday revealed.

Janine Rayburn, a former employee at The Management Group (TMG) turned possible whistleblower, has said the agency kept Depp in the dark about his alleged financial problems — and that the actor would have avoided getting into such financial straits if it had leveled with him.

But under questioning, Rayburn admits she doesn’t know Depp and only met him for two seconds at a holiday party, and therefore doesn’t know if he would have slowed his spending if TMG had alerted him.

Depp, who stars in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” owns 14 homes around the globe and allegedly spends $30,000 a month on wine as part of a posh lifestyle that became unsupportable.

TMG loaned Depp money to cover his costs, it said.

“You don’t know anything about him as a person, do you?” TMG’s lawyers asked her, according to the transcript of the deposition unsealed.

“I do not,” she replied.

“You don’t know whether or not he has a compulsion — compulsive spending habit, do you?”

“I do not,” she said.

After Depp sued TMG for $25 million, claiming the agency ripped him off, his ex-managers returned fire, denying the allegations and claiming Depp needs to see a shrink for a “compulsive spending” habit.

The woman, who worked at TMG for two years, provided some support to back up Depp’s contention that TMG cheated him. For example, she was asked to notarize a document that had Depp’s signature on it, without the actor being present.

“I said I didn’t feel comfortable doing it,” she said in the deposition. TMG lawyers claim there is no evidence to support her claim.

Depp’s lawyers want to amend their $25 million lawsuit to include Rayburn’s evidence. TMG is fighting the move, claiming she violated her nondisclosure agreement in talking to Depp’s legal eagles.

TMG also fought to keep the deposition under seal, saying Rayburn’s alleged lies could hurt its reputation.

Rayburn’s admission that she exaggerated her Depp relationship and lied on her résumé could undercut her credibility.

Adam Waldman, Depp’s lawyer who conducted the deposition, hit back on Friday, telling The Post that Rayburn managed Depp’s day-to-day affairs as an account manager.

“Having failed to conceal from the public whistleblower testimony that reveals some of the egregious misconduct [Joel] Mandel [a TMG partner, as is his brother Rob] asked her to commit on Mr. Depp’s account, the Mandels now predictably focus their efforts on smearing their former employee, just as they have attempted to smear Mr Depp.”

Depp’s lawyer continued: “The Mandels’ ‘everyone is lying’ defense in this fraud case is crumbling under the mounting body of evidence coming from multiple directions — whistleblowers, forensic accountants, lawyers and tax experts.”

The California celebrity management firm said in an e-mailed statement “Rayburn only worked at TMG for a brief time and was fired seven years ago. Rayburn fully admitted that she has no idea what conversations took place between Depp and TMG regarding Depp’s financial situation. We welcome the opportunity to further question Ms. Rayburn in court, exposing her many lies.”

In court documents filed on May 5, TMG lawyers suggest Rayburn lied “at least 12 times.”

In the deposition, Rayburn admitted that she doesn’t have a business degree from California State University, Northridge, something she fudged on her resume. She also admitted to a personal bankruptcy after her husband lost his job.

In unsealing the documents, the court judgment read: “It is not appropriate for the Court to seal any allegation that a party argues is false or misleading.”

[Lbock]

Johnny Depp's "Whistleblower" Says She Was Told Not to Question His Sister's Spending

MAY 30, 2017 7:40pm PT by Ashley Cullins
The Hollywood Reporter

Testimony of an ex-TMG account manager is made public, as that of Depp's former agent and lawyer remain a point of contention.

Johnny Depp's already ugly legal battle with his former business managers is getting even more personal, as newly unsealed deposition testimony alleges The Management Group kept him in the dark about his finances and claims the star's sister spent his money unchecked because his business manager was afraid of her.

Depp sued in January claiming TMG, and its principals Joel and Robert Mandel, treated his money as their own and cost him millions. The Mandels countersued claiming Depp knew he was short of funds but continued to spend at a breakneck pace.

Ex-TMG employee Janine Rayburn says she believes the actor didn't know the state of his finances — and the court on Friday gave Depp the green light to amend his lawsuit against to include claims arising from her testimony. The court also ruled that the transcript of her March 2 deposition should be public.

TMG fought to keep those claims under seal, citing a confidentiality agreement and claiming the woman lied under oath. L.A. Superior Court judge Teresa Beaudet found that contesting what is the truth is the very heart of litigation and keeping all such arguments confidential is not in the public interest.

Rayburn was an account manager at TMG from mid-2008 through the end of 2010, and handled the day-to-day business for eight clients including Depp. She says her job entailed processing bills, depositing checks, recording investments and meeting other client needs. "I do not believe that Johnny was aware of his financial situation," Rayburn testified. "To my knowledge, financial statements were not sent to him."

When cross-examined by TMG’s attorney Michael Kump, Rayburn testified that she did not work on the team that prepared any cash flow analysis documents or budgets and did not have personal knowledge as to whether they were sent to him.

"The Court’s unsealing of whistleblower testimony and the handwritten notes she took in 2010, both of which the Mandels sought to block from public view, reveal a stew of unethical and illegal acts," Depp's attorney Adam Waldman tells The Hollywood Reporter. "These acts include Joel Mandel’s instructions to the whistleblower, who served as Mr. Depp’s account manager for two and a half years, to falsely notarize 'fake' documents and to alter numbers in his financial statements, all of which instructions she repeatedly refused."

She claims one of those instructions was to notarize Depp's signature on a document when he wasn't present. "I have no idea what the transaction was for," she said during her deposition. "It was only the signature pages, so I couldn't tell."

Rayburn claims her refusal to commit those acts and her questions about the handling of Depp's account got her fired, although at the time she was told it was because she "wasn't a good fit." Her severance agreement shows she was paid $40,000, she agreed to not divulge confidential information and the parties agreed to not disparage each another.

TMG maintains that Rayburn is a "serial liar" who is disgruntled about her firing. "Under cross-examination, Janine Rayburn fully admitted that she was not part of the team at TMG that created Depp’s financial statements and that she has absolutely no personal knowledge regarding what TMG told Depp about his finances," says attorney Michael Kump. "Depp’s reliance on Rayburn’s highly speculative statements is ridiculous. Indeed, the one conversation Rayburn claims to have overheard while at TMG confirms that Depp and his closest advisors have been discussing Depp’s tremendous spending problems for at least a decade."

Rayburn says she had a feeling she was going to be fired, so she she made notes about things she thought were "odd" with plans to tell Robert Mandel and Howard Leiter about her concerns. In her notes, she calls the former an "idiot" and says he didn't believe her.

Also in those handwritten notes, entered as an exhibit, Rayburn calls Depp's sister Christi Dembrowski a "nasty bitch" and says Mandel did whatever she wanted because he was afraid of her. Dembrowski runs her brother's production company and brought TMG to him in the late '90s, as part of a short list of other potential business managers for him to interview.

Rayburn claims the company was using Depp's money to pay for Dembrowski's personal expenses — including her daughter's wedding, trips and a new pool — without express permission from the star. She says she asked Dembrowski about the spending on two occasions and "her response was, he’s my brother. My money is his money. His money is mine.” (Dembrowksi's attorney Dylan Ruga did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Waldman says Rayburn's claims are more than just one half of a he-said-she-said equation.

"Mr. Depp’s forensic accountants Edward White & Co., and Miriam Fisher, head of the tax department at Latham & Watkins, have independently verified many of the whistleblower’s most damning allegations," he says. "One is that Joel Mandel apparently altered financial statements before they were submitted to banks. The Mandels’ purpose in securing over $75 million in bank loans in Mr. Depp’s name was to use the loans to pay themselves and Mr. Depp’s entertainment lawyer over $70 million in improper contingent fees and to shovel out nearly $10 million to third parties as sham 'loans' without Mr. Depp’s knowledge."

"The idea that Johnny Depp borrowed one cent to pay TMG or his entertainment lawyer, Jake Bloom, without his knowledge is libelous and beyond outrageously false," says Kump. "At trial, Depp will be proven to be a liar and a fraud."

Further, a TMG spokesman called claims that Mandel was afraid to defy Dembrowski "absurd" and questioned why Depp would want Rayburn's testimony to be public while fighting that of his former reps. "It's more than ironic that Johnny Depp and his attorneys are relying on the testimony of a low-level employee who lied numerous times but filed motions late Friday to quash testimony from two of Depp's closest advisors and critical witnesses in the case, Jake Bloom and UTA's Tracy Jacobs."

Waldman says that argument is irrelevant. "We would not stop anyone from testifying in this fraud case," he says. "The suggestion that a common motion to limit an overbroad subpoena request bears any resemblance to the Mandels' failed attempts to muzzle and then hide a whistleblower's testimony regarding their illegal conduct is absurd."

Depp unceremoniously ended his relationship with TMG in 2016, shortly after the firm advised him to start liquidating real estate assets to pay his bills. He then hired White, who discovered the alleged misconduct while reviewing the actor's finances.

Depp claims TMG cost him $8 million in unnecessary tax penalties and fees, loaned without permission $10 million of his money to parties close to him, secured a $12.5 million hard money loan with his residuals and failed to repay itself for a $5 million bridge loan it issued without his knowledge, which triggered non-judicial foreclosure proceedings on his Hollywood Hills home. While TMG maintains it did everything it could to keep the star financially afloat and Depp was aware of the situation.

It's too early to definitively say how Beaudet will handle this case, but her recent decision favoring transparency is a strong indication that much of what plays out leading up to the 2018 trial will be public.