The Lawsuits Thread

Discuss the latest Johnny Depp news, his career, past and future projects, and other related issues.
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Lbock
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by Lbock » Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:54 pm

magicmoment wrote:
Lbock wrote:
magicmoment wrote:First of all, I agree with Nebraska, what should be in court should stay there, he shouldn't stoop to their levels. Johnny has always been like this, 'never complain, never explain'.
I don't think he can say anything for now, do you think people gonna believe him if he said 'TMG is lying!'?, no, I don't think so, I think they'll hate him more for doing so. After all, these are people who believe tabloids and gossips, which is very telling about their characters, they just find someone to hate, to gossip, to drag down. Unfortuantely, this time it's Johnny round. This time, he is the victim of media's slander and malicious lies.

Second, I don't know if I should share this, but I think it may, somehow, calm some of us down? Maybe, hope so.
Some of us on Twitter talked to Gina (Stephen's wife), she said they're all supporting him in real life with all their efforts, and they acknowledge every lies that being printed about him, and they do their best to deal with it, just because they don't say anything doesn't mean they're ignorant to what being said. She said, however, to brave yourself because they're gonna be ugly reporting for a while, and we must brave the storm.
Anyway, she said that 'patiently wating for the truth to prevail'.
I wonder if she means more dirt to come out or just it will be awhile to overcome this round
Could be both. Who knows? It can't be uglier than this anyway, imo.
Well, in pursuing TMGs complaint, I am guessing they let out a lot of little grenades hoping Johnny would settle. I am guessing the next bombshell maybe when they alluded to paying out all kinds of settlements to avoid police. So I'm guessing those will be the next to come out. They could include things amounting to anger issues and outbursts. Who knows

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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by magicmoment » Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:45 pm

Lbock wrote:
magicmoment wrote:
Lbock wrote:
I wonder if she means more dirt to come out or just it will be awhile to overcome this round
Could be both. Who knows? It can't be uglier than this anyway, imo.
Well, in pursuing TMGs complaint, I am guessing they let out a lot of little grenades hoping Johnny would settle. I am guessing the next bombshell maybe when they alluded to paying out all kinds of settlements to avoid police. So I'm guessing those will be the next to come out. They could include things amounting to anger issues and outbursts. Who knows
Then I think it would be about the disabled lady case around 2011-2012?
Anyway, as Newt Scamander said: "My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice.”
So I always tell myself to not think about what will come next.

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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by fireflydances » Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:56 pm

I agree that our best tactics are to ignore the nasty press and remain united behind him. We really did hold the ground last year when many were accusing him of awful things, and I think he deeply appreciated that. Blissful ignorance is a wonderful way to remain above the fray and simply enjoy this kind and dear man.
"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested." Sir Francis Bacon, Of Studies

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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by Sweeney Todd » Mon Jul 10, 2017 2:45 pm



Johnny Depp's Spending Habits Not Relevant in Business Manager Legal Fight, Judge Rules

July 10, 2017 10:59am PT by Ashley Cullins

It doesn't matter whether Johnny Depp spends $2 million a month, according to an L.A. judge who on Monday ruled that the actor's headline-grabbing spending habits aren't relevant to his legal battle with his ex-business managers.

The highly contentious legal battle began in January, with Depp suing The Management Group and its principals Joel and Robert Mandel for allegedly collecting millions in fees without his consent, loaning his money without his knowledge and racking up unnecessary tax penalties and fees. TMG fired back in an explosive cross complaint that said Depp's proclivities for the finer things like expensive wine, memorabilia and real estate and his refusal to listen to their advice led to his dire financial state. (Read the full background here.)

TMG had asked the court for a declaration that "Depp authorized and directed all of TMG’s payments on his behalf; (2) TMG always filed Depp’s tax returns timely and only failed to pay the full extent of Depp’s tax obligations because Depp was squandering vast sums of money and had insufficient funds to timely pay all of his taxes; and (3) Depp caused his own financial waste by acting directly contrary to TMG’s repeated advice over the last 17 years and the advice of numerous of Depp’s other advisors."

In a tentative ruling ahead of Monday's hearing L.A. County Superior Court judge Teresa Beaudet found that TMG failed to allege that an actual, present controversy exists and to explain how the court's intervention would inform the parties of their future rights and responsibilities.

"TMG’s action for declaratory relief seeks declarations placing culpability for Depp’s financial woes on him, and freeing TMG of any past wrongdoing," Beaudet wrote. "No results or effects of such declarations on the parties’ responsibilities or duties are alleged."

Further, Beaudet found that many of the allegations regarding Depp's spending from TMG's amended cross complaint are no longer relevant given her decision to sustain the demurrer to the declaration.

"The pages of allegations of Depp’s allegedly outrageous spending clearly have no relevance to the 5% commission allegedly owed TMG from the Pirates of the Caribbean payout, or to the final work done by TMG on transitioning their files to Depp’s new representatives," she wrote. "They would seem more relevant to the allegations of breach of oral contract related to the credit card debts, except that TMG does not specifically allege which exact expenditures by Depp were spent on which card, leading to that debt owed. Without specifics, the Court cannot find they are relevant to any cause of action in the FACC."

Beaudet had indicated she would not give TMG leave to amend its declaratory claim, but Suann MacIsaac convinced her to allow it. The next iteration of the claim will be a mirror of Depp's claim for declaratory relief, and, while the information about his spending is now stricken, much of it may end up being relevant to the new claim.

The promissory fraud claims against Depp will proceed, despite a challenge from his attorney Benjamin Chew. At this stage, the court assumes the truth of the facts that are pleaded. TMG alleged that its employees aided in Depp's transition to a new business manager because it had been repeatedly told it would be paid after the transition was complete.

"TMG alleged that Cross-Defendants never intended to abide by their promises and TMG reasonably relied on the alleged false promises by doing the 386 hours of work during those last two weeks of March," wrote Beaudet in her tentative. "TMG has sufficiently alleged the elements of an action for promissory fraud with sufficient specificity, and the demurrer is overruled as to the sixth cause of action."

After patiently waiting through more than two hours of other cases on Beaudet's calendar, attorneys for Depp and TMG argued for only about 15 minutes. The judge changed her tentative decision only slightly, allowing TMG to amend its claim for declaratory relief.

Both sides are declaring the ruling a win.

“Today the court threw out a meritless cause of action TMG never should have asserted," said Chew after the hearing. "The fact that they had to change their theory on the fly is a sign of their desperation to distract from the real issues in the case. The court also granted Mr. Depp's motion to strike from the cross complaint a mountain of gratuitous smears about him. This was a good day for Johnny Depp."

"Today's ruling was a clear victory for The Management Group because the Court ruled in favor of our fraud claim," said TMG attorney Michael Kump of Kinsella Weitzman. "We intend to file an amended cross complaint for declaratory relief. All of the issues regarding Depp’s extravagant spending continue to be fully included in the case."

Depp is also represented by Adam Waldman of The Endeavor Group and Matthew Kanny of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
:sweeneydepp: Never forget. Never forgive. :sweeneydepp:

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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by stroch » Thu Jul 13, 2017 1:17 pm

From July 5; no new news, but quotes I have not read before. I left in the picture captions because I keep losing the post.




It was a lovely night for a difficult meeting.

Late last October, Johnny Depp sat for dinner with two forensic accountants and his business manager of six months, Ed White, in the bucolic backyard of White’s house, in Bel Air, California. Also present was a guest from Washington, D.C., Adam Waldman, a lawyer whose clients reportedly include Angelina Jolie and Cher. Waldman recalls there were vintage wines from White’s cellar and a catered meal served by a team of waiters. But behind the pleasantries lay a disturbing topic of conversation: the condition of Depp’s finances.

Depp professed to be in shock. After all, he is paid up to $20 million a picture. How could he possibly be so strapped for cash that his former business manager, Joel Mandel, had told him it was necessary to sell major assets, such as his château on the French Riviera? Dressed in his trademark quasi-pirate attire—heavily pinned leather jacket and an assemblage of scarves, bangles, rings, and tattoos—and rolling his own smokes, Depp told Waldman, “I’m not a lawyer. I’m not an accountant. I’m not qualified to help my 15-year-old son with his math homework. . . . I’ve always trusted the people around me.”

White’s accountants claimed to have found anomalies in the handling of Depp’s finances by his former business managers, Robert and Joel Mandel, and their firm, the Management Group (TMG). These, Waldman would later charge, included late payment of income tax and disbursing nearly $10 million to “third parties [including Depp’s sister] close to or who worked for Mr. Depp, without Mr. Depp’s knowledge or authorization.” These transgressions and others caused Depp to borrow tens of millions of dollars at high interest rates, with his film residuals as collateral, according to Waldman. The charges were vigorously denied by the Mandels and TMG, which called them “fabricated and replete with demonstrably false allegations.”

“What’s the amount that Johnny has made [over the 17 years the Mandels represented him]?” Waldman asked White at the backyard dinner.

“Six hundred and fifty million dollars,” White replied. From that sum TMG had been paid 5 percent, and Depp’s attorney Jake Bloom got another 5 percent, for a total of around $65 million.

At the conclusion of the dinner, Waldman remembers Depp asking, “Will you represent me? Will you get to the bottom of this and give me some advice?”

On January 13, after Waldman had worked with White and eight additional lawyers to sift through about 24,000 e-mails, Depp’s attorneys filed a scathing lawsuit against TMG, seeking $25 million in damages for negligence, fraud, unjust enrichment, and breach of fiduciary duty, among other things. Eighteen days later, TMG responded with a blistering 31-page cross-complaint, claiming that Depp was a spendthrift of epic proportions, who, despite his manager’s constant warnings, refused to curb his “selfish, reckless, and irresponsible lifestyle.”

By 2013, Depp’s expenses had ballooned to $2 million a month, TMG claimed—a burn rate disputed by his new attorney. The Mandels’ cross-complaint describes 14 residences, including the château in France and a four-island chain in the Bahamas. There were also a 156-foot cash-guzzling yacht and 12 Los Angeles storage facilities full of memorabilia, including 70 collectible guitars, plus major artwork by Klimt, Modigliani, and Basquiat, among others. Forty full-time employees cost Depp $300,000 a month, they claimed—although Waldman says there are only 15 employees, some of them consultants. Round-the-clock security for himself, his two children, and various family members costs $150,000 a month more. In addition to the $10 million supporting friends and family, he spent $30,000 a month on wine “flown to him around the world,” the lawsuit alleges, and $5 million for a blowout memorial service for the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, including blasting his ashes from a 153-foot custom-built cannon at Thompson’s home in Aspen. (Depp idolized Thompson and later told his attorney, “If I had $5 million and one dollar, I [still] would have done it. That was my brother.”)

Depp’s fiery, 15-month marriage to the actress Amber Heard cost him another $7 million. Three years after meeting on the set of The Rum Diary, in which Depp played a rum-addled Hunter S. Thompson, the couple began living together. The union ended in a tabloid feast, which included a temporary restraining order and accusations of domestic abuse. Heard detailed two of Depp’s supposedly violent episodes against her in a court declaration. Soon, there were photographs in the media of her with a black eye and a bloody lip.

Depp’s team issued denials. “Amber is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse,” said Depp’s lawyer Laura Wasser in a court document. Heard filed for divorce on May 23, 2016. A settlement was announced in August, a few days before the couple was due in court.

RIGHT ON THE MONEY

Hollywood business managers are typically invisible, and the Mandels have in the past stayed below the radar. Before Depp, they had never been sued by a client, their attorney insists. William Morris Endeavor co-C.E.O. Ari Emanuel calls them “true, honest, loyal brokers who aren’t afraid to take a position with a client on what you should and shouldn’t do.” Emanuel says he has entrusted his financial life to them since he was a “baby agent.” Another longtime TMG client says, “Rob Mandel has been one of the executors of my estate for 30 years, and Joel Mandel is designated as one of my executors and trustees in the event that Rob can’t serve. That includes overseeing my kids.”

Of the various allegations by Depp’s lawyer, TMG’s attorney Michael Kump responds, “For 17 years, TMG timely filed Depp’s tax returns and, funds permitting, always timely paid Depp’s income taxes.” Any taxes paid late have “everything to do with Depp’s over-the-top spending and had nothing to do with TMG’s negligence,” he says. Regarding allegations over disbursements and loans, he says, “Over a 17-year period, TMG did not make a single distribution of Depp’s funds without authorization by Depp and/or his sister and personal manager, [Christi] Dembrowski,” and did not negotiate or dictate the terms of any high-interest loan for Johnny Depp.

Was Johnny Depp an innocent fleeced at the hands of Hollywood hucksters or a scheming artful dodger attempting to sue his way out of his wastrel lifestyle and outrageous spending and any remaining debt to his former business managers? Both sides are demanding a jury trial, currently set for January. Depp is asking for at least $25 million, while his former business managers are demanding $560,000 in damages and a court declaration that states “Depp caused his own financial waste.”

“Money doesn’t change anybody,” Johnny Depp once said. “Money reveals them. . . . I’m still exactly the guy that used to pump gas.”

He arrived in Hollywood at 19 in 1983, a guitarist in a rock ‘n’ roll band, whose fortunes soon failed. A high-school dropout and juvenile delinquent, Johnny was dead broke, living in a seedy apartment and filling out job applications at stores on Melrose before turning to telemarketing—“selling pens over the phone in order to eat,” he has said—in a sweatshop at Hollywood and Vine. His first wife, Lori Anne Allison, introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who “wanted to hook me up with an agent,” Depp once remembered. “You should try being an actor,” Cage advised him.

Depp was promptly cast in Wes Craven’s 1984 horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, then in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning war film, Platoon, and subsequently as an undercover cop on the TV series 21 Jump Street. But he got stuck as a “TV boy,” in his words, until a new agent, Tracey Jacobs, rescued him with an odd movie script: “It was the story of a boy with scissors for hands—an innocent outcast in suburbia,” Depp wrote. “I read the script instantly and wept like a newborn.”

Director Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands was a 1990 smash, and it made Depp a movie star. By 1999, having starred in three equally quirky films—What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, and Don Juan DeMarco (with Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway)—he was living large, in “Dracula’s Castle,” a vast Hollywood fantasy of turrets and towers, built in 1927, just above Sunset Boulevard.

Depp spent $5 million for a memorial service blasting journalist Hunter Thompson’s ashes from a 153-foot cannon.
In 1999, Depp and his sister, Christi Dembrowski, hired the Mandels, whose TMG was then 12 years old. The brothers operate a family shop: Robert is a tax attorney, and Joel is a transactional attorney, although they don’t represent their clients as attorneys, they say in court filings. Rather, they are full-service business managers, and their powerful clients rely on them for pretty much everything financial: collecting their payments from studios and other entities, paying their bills, filing and paying their taxes, balancing their books. (Dembrowski did not respond to requests for comment.)

For their first meeting, Joel, who would be the point man on Depp’s account, drove down Sunset and through the gates to the 7,430-square-foot Castle. In a scene straight out of Sunset Boulevard, he was ushered into the Gothic manse, whose walls and floors were covered with hundreds of pieces of art. Johnny, then 36, greeted him from his desk in an office filled with books, collectible guns, guitars, and memorabilia. Well read, much traveled, and intelligent, Depp was pleasant, personable, prepared, and a great listener. He had previously relied on his sister for many of his business dealings. Now Joel Mandel would take over.

In turning over his finances to a professional business manager, the actor was asked to consult with Joel Mandel before spending his hard-earned money, according to a source close to TMG. Not that anything seems to have been denied. Because, in 2003, Depp starred in the first of five Pirates of the Caribbean blockbusters, and it was his character—the mumbling, bumbling, dreadlock-and-bead-festooned Captain Jack Sparrow—that turned Pirates into box-office gold. Depp was paid $11 million for the first installment, and $20 million per sequel, with reportedly more than $40 million in back-end payments.

SPENDING LIKE A SAILOR

With the studio payments flowing in to TMG, Depp developed what the firm’s cross-complaint would call “a never-ending desire to spend.” It began with a boat. After introducing Depp to acting, Nicolas Cage—who himself reportedly blew through $150 million and faced bankruptcy in 2009—showed him his style of spending. He lent him one of his two yachts, the 126-foot Sarita, and Johnny and his then partner, French actress Vanessa Paradis, and their two young children, Lily-Rose and Jack, promptly set sail. When the family disembarked onto the beaches of the Bahamas, the real-estate brokers, specialists in the ultra-rarefied clientele who can afford their own private islands, were upon him. This particular dream apparently spoke to Depp, who had visited Marlon Brando on his private South Pacific atoll, Tetiaroa, after the two had worked together on Don Juan DeMarco.

In 2004, Joel accompanied Depp on an island-shopping cruise. When they stepped off the yacht and onto the beach in the Exumas they found . . . nothing. Little Hall’s Pond Cay, a chain of four uninhabited islands 60 nautical miles southeast of Nassau, was on the market for $3.6 million. It had six sandy beaches. And no plumbing, sewage facilities, or electricity.

According to a source close to TMG, the manager focused on the cons (the exorbitant expense of creating infrastructure), while the client saw only the pros (a refuge for him and his family, a place to recharge for his next major studio picture). And when the manager couldn’t talk Depp out of the islands, he did his best to negotiate the price down to $3,225,000.

Depp’s attorney says that the Bahamas island chain and other real-estate purchases have been great investments for the actor and have appreciated many times above their acquisition costs. But if you own an island, it is mandatory also to own the ultimate spending machine: a yacht. In Depp’s case, an old-fashioned fantasy of smokestacks and masts that Captain Jack Sparrow might sail in his leisure hours. Depp found her in Turkey: Anatolia, a steam-powered replica yacht, built in 2001. The asking price was said to be $8.75 million, with $8 million more needed for refurbishment expenses.

Knowing that Mandel would suggest analyzing the math, as he always did, according to a source close to TMG, Depp dispatched his sister to insist, This is very important to Johnny, because a boat is the only place he can relax and recharge.

Fifteen minutes later, Depp called, and Mandel is said to have advised him on what he had to do work-wise to meet the huge expense of owning the yacht along with his other financial obligations: two studio pictures a year—or $40 million in guaranteed compensation.

I get it and I’m O.K. with it, Depp said, according to the source.

The yacht would have a multi-national crew of eight and operating and maintenance costs between $300,000 and $400,000 a month; Depp christened it the Vajoliroja: Va for Vanessa Paradis, jo for himself, liro for daughter Lily-Rose, and ja for son Jack. He commissioned the Malibu-based LM Pagano Design to decorate her in a style described in this magazine as “Orient Express by way of Parisian brothel.”

Back in Hollywood, the Castle must have seemed small compared with the open seas, so Depp sought to annex the cul-de-sac surrounding his home by buying all of its houses, for a total cost of around $10 million. They would serve as an art studio, a guesthouse for his mother and friends, and, the largest, a state-of-the-art recording studio.

But by 2007, Joel Mandel believed that Depp wasn’t making the annual income that he had said he would, according to the cross-complaint. The actor allegedly became aloof, hard to reach, exploding with expletives when challenged over expenses. The suit cites “hundreds of conversations”—in-person meetings, telephone calls, and e-mails—that once were friendly but devolved into “profanity-laced tirades where he [Depp] abused the professionals surrounding him and claimed that he would work harder to afford whatever new item he wanted to purchase.”

By this point, according to a source close to TMG, Depp had to earn more than $60 million a year, before taxes and agents’ commissions.

Depp’s agent, Tracey Jacobs, and her team went into overdrive to find him new projects. “It became harder and harder to find things that were good that would pay full-boat,” says an industry source. “He’s $10-million-plus and they were just not making many dramas that pay $10 million.” This led to such bombs as Transcendence, Mortdecai, and The Lone Ranger, not to mention a curious Dior Sauvage men’s-cologne commercial, for which Depp purportedly received a fee of $16.4 million. (Jacobs did not respond to requests for comment.)

By October 2012, according to the cross-complaint, the situation had become so dire that Jake Bloom and Joel held a three-hour “come to Jesus” meeting with the actor in his guitar-filled recording studio. Since Depp didn’t like reviewing lengthy financial documents, they distilled everything down to a one-page summary, but Depp didn’t want to see that either. So they walked him through the situation, telling him that “immediate action” was required.

“Depp was facing a potential, public financial crisis,” according to the cross-complaint, “which would have forced him to default on a multi-million[-dollar] loan with CNB [City National Bank].” The bank demanded payment on one $5 million loan, but “Depp did not have the funds to repay it . . . [due to his] refusal to curb his profligate spending.”

“To save Depp from a public and devastating financial collapse,” TMG lent him the $5 million to repay the loan, and he signed new loan papers with TMG, securing it with two of his Hollywood properties.

The yacht was sold in late 2013 to American buyers. Still, it wasn’t enough.

FUNNY BUSINESS

Mandel pleaded with Depp’s associates to give him a heads-up—an “Expense Watch,” according to a source close to TMG—on any extraordinary expenditures so that Mandel could attempt to intercede. If he couldn’t stop the purchase, perhaps he could attempt to negotiate the price.

He began getting frequent e-mails.

Los Angeles: “Johnny has purchased 10 cases of wine from 20/20 [Wine Merchants, where, the source insists, his outstanding bill once reached $1 million] . . . the total will be $290,000 + tax. Wow.”

New York: “Johnny [wandered] into Fred Leighton jewelry and spent $500,000 on a diamond cuff [and other jewelry].”

Mandel, according to a source close to TMG, discovered many purchases only after receiving the invoices, such as on September 22, 2014, when he got a call from a New York attorney saying that Depp had bought the archives of the author and former V.F. contributing editor Nick Tosches. The negotiations had supposedly taken place late one night in London’s Dorchester hotel, and the agreed-upon price for the archives was $1.2 million. (Tosches did not respond to requests for comment.)

Dubious, Mandel asked for proof. An e-mail arrived with a photograph of Dorchester stationery, on which Depp had written, “i, Johnny Depp, hereby agree to purchase the archives of Saint Nick Tosches for the sum of $1.2 million dollars. Johnny Depp.”

The agreement appeared to be sealed, beside his signature, with drops of blood.

Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman claims, “Most of these points are false, grossly misleading or bewilderingly irrelevant to the lawsuit. These questions form the basis of the Mandels’ non sequitur defense against a litany of our specific allegations. Mr. Depp’s ‘financial woes,’ as the Mandels term it, are not at issue in Depp vs. Mandel.”

The pendulum swung back on February 7, when Depp received an e-mail regarding one of TMG’s ex-employees, a woman who had worked on his account. “She knows all the dirt and all the thieves !!!!” the e-mail said.

On May 26, Depp’s attorneys succeeded in unsealing the deposition of the former TMG employee, Janine Rayburn. They say her testimony reveals that she was instructed “to commit improper acts on the Depp account.”

In their filings, TMG’s team called Rayburn a “serial liar” who lied 12 times during her deposition. She “did not have substantial responsibility on Depp’s account,” handling only “bill pay and data entry,” and she worked for TMG for only two years and only spoke to Depp for “like two seconds” at a holiday party.

Rayburn’s attorney, Grant Gelberg, responds, “Janine Rayburn has worked in business management for over 30 years. She is beloved by her clients and works tirelessly for them. She had a legal obligation to appear at her deposition in the Johnny Depp v. TMG case and she truthfully answered all questions that were put to her.”

On June 19, in a court motion, TMG’s attorneys released a batch of e-mails, including a late-2009 e-mail from Depp to Joel Mandel that suggests the actor understood his urgent need to raise more cash: “know that i will be starting THE TOURIST, on or about the 15th of february, which will be 20 mil. i will then go, virtually, straight into PIRATES 4, for 35 mil and then in turn to DARK SHADOWS for another 20 mil . . . what else can I do??? you want me to sell some art??? i will. you want me to sell something else??? sure . . . what??? . . . i got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings and some semblance of a soul left. where would you like me to start??? i don’t like being in this situation, but there wasn’t a whole lot of choice, as THE RUM DIARY was a sacrifice we knew would be happening and the last proper paycheck was PUBLIC ENEMIES. i will do my best, joel.”

Waldman responds, “Which of the allegations in Mr. Depp’s complaint do those e-mails serve as a defense against?”

Meanwhile, reports of hard partying and being chronically late to the set came out of Australia, where Depp was filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth installment in the series. Two directors of Depp’s recent films came to his defense, however. “The Johnny I worked with so closely, the Johnny I admire, isn’t the Johnny that’s been portrayed,” says Scott Cooper, who directed Depp as the psychopathic mobster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. “Professionally, he was on time, word-perfect, and polite to all,” says Sir Kenneth Branagh, who acted with and directed him in the upcoming Murder on the Orient Express.

“He’s a gentle soul, and it’s hard to see him in any other light,” says Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the Pirates franchise.

Despite a critical drubbing, the latest Pirates turned out to be a box-office smash, raking in $271 million globally on its Memorial Day weekend opening. The film, which cost a reported $230 million to make, is on course to bring in more than a billion dollars to Disney.

Regardless of the legal wrangling yet to come, Johnny Depp will live to shop another day.
I'll buy you the hat....a really big one.
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Judymac
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by Judymac » Thu Jul 13, 2017 6:33 pm

“What’s the amount that Johnny has made [over the 17 years the Mandels represented him]?” Waldman asked White at the backyard dinner. “Six hundred and fifty million dollars,”

This is a complicated matter but I still can not figure out how anybody could spend that kind of money. I just do not believe them at all. There are a lot of things not right about the Mandels story. Also, Johnny is still working and earning a lot of money. The Mandels better have have accounting of every last penny of Johnny's money! I also wonder why The Mandels were not investing a percentage of his money in a retirement account (like a 401K account or an IRA). I also think his ex wife freely spent Johnny's money. I think Johnny was trying so hard to make her happy that he let her buy whatever she wanted and she completely took advantage of him. I am sure she burned through a lot of his money in the time they were together.

A 401K and an IRA are retirement accounts. You put a percentage of your earnings into an account and it is invested for you to have when you retire. I thought I would explain that for the non US fans.

I thought it was funny that he said he was not qualified to help his son with his Math homework. I know the feeling Math has gotten much harder since I was in school. :spin:

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Lbock
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by Lbock » Fri Jul 14, 2017 10:50 am

Judymac wrote:“What’s the amount that Johnny has made [over the 17 years the Mandels represented him]?” Waldman asked White at the backyard dinner. “Six hundred and fifty million dollars,”

This is a complicated matter but I still can not figure out how anybody could spend that kind of money. I just do not believe them at all. There are a lot of things not right about the Mandels story. Also, Johnny is still working and earning a lot of money. The Mandels better have have accounting of every last penny of Johnny's money! I also wonder why The Mandels were not investing a percentage of his money in a retirement account (like a 401K account or an IRA). I also think his ex wife freely spent Johnny's money. I think Johnny was trying so hard to make her happy that he let her buy whatever she wanted and she completely took advantage of him. I am sure she burned through a lot of his money in the time they were together.

A 401K and an IRA are retirement accounts. You put a percentage of your earnings into an account and it is invested for you to have when you retire. I thought I would explain that for the non US fans.

I thought it was funny that he said he was not qualified to help his son with his Math homework. I know the feeling Math has gotten much harder since I was in school. :spin:
I me didn't understand they didn't have a tax escrow account set up for him. Uncle sam always gets paid first no matter what. Rule no. 1. A portion of his income should have always been set aside, he has to file every three months for goodness sakes

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nebraska
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by nebraska » Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:46 pm

This whole matter is complicated. I wouldn't think Johnny would have filed a law suit without having some sort of grounds. It is really suspicious to me than this came to light in the middle of the mess with she-who-shall-not-be-named.

Johnny was a man who came from poor beginnings. It had to be as hard for him to comprehend the amount of money, just as it is for us. I can see him making errors in judgement. But I am not sure any of this makes sense.

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stroch
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by stroch » Fri Jul 14, 2017 4:10 pm

Judymac wrote; Also, Johnny is still working and earning a lot of money.
I think part of the lawsuit is that the Mandels negotiated a huge loan at high interest with Johnny's future earnings, at least for DMTNT, as collateral. And didn't they extend a personal loan with the castle pledged, and then try to foreclose? I surely hope this turns out well for him.
I completely blame the unnamed one for almost destroying his life.
And Lbock, I also wondered about those taxes -- if they failed to file on time for a number of years, that's the number of years times 4. It seems like a responsible group would indeed create a tax escrow account, at least after the first time he--according to them---didn't have enough money to pay. I'm sure THEY always got paid first.
Also it seems like they charged him for turning over his records to the new financial team and are demanding payment for the hours it took to provide them. :yuck:
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by reindeermoon » Sat Jul 15, 2017 2:13 pm

I am astonished about the hours the TMG can work during two weeks. If they are doing their calculations always like that, it really might go wrong. :banghead:

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RumLover
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by RumLover » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:35 pm

reindeermoon wrote:I am astonished about the hours the TMG can work during two weeks. If they are doing their calculations always like that, it really might go wrong. :banghead:
Keep in mind that TMG had many staff working on Johnny's account. I think I recall that they have 30+ people at one time so
30+ people could work over 1,000 hours in a week.

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Lbock
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by Lbock » Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:15 pm

stroch wrote:
Judymac wrote; Also, Johnny is still working and earning a lot of money.
I think part of the lawsuit is that the Mandels negotiated a huge loan at high interest with Johnny's future earnings, at least for DMTNT, as collateral. And didn't they extend a personal loan with the castle pledged, and then try to foreclose? I surely hope this turns out well for him.
I completely blame the unnamed one for almost destroying his life.
And Lbock, I also wondered about those taxes -- if they failed to file on time for a number of years, that's the number of years times 4. It seems like a responsible group would indeed create a tax escrow account, at least after the first time he--according to them---didn't have enough money to pay. I'm sure THEY always got paid first.
Also it seems like they charged him for turning over his records to the new financial team and are demanding payment for the hours it took to provide them. :yuck:
Taxes are actually times 5. He has to file quarterly estimated income taxes as he is an independent contractor and then the final year end tax April 15 to show his actual earned income and that he paid enough taxes through the year, if you are too far off/low on your estimated tax payments, you can get a penalty on that too. The govt needs the money year long (most businesses submit your tax payments monthly, for example) so independents have to file and submit tax money quarterly.

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Lbock
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by Lbock » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:29 pm



JULY 20, 2017 1:12pm PT by Ashley Cullins
New Johnny Depp Expenses Disclosed by Ex-Managers in Amended Lawsuit
These expenditures were revealed in The Managment Group's second amended cross-complaint against the actor.



These expenditures were revealed in The Managment Group's second amended cross-complaint against the actor.
Johnny Depp's former business managers were told by the court to reframe their arguments about the actor's spending, and in doing so they've added new details about his credit card expenses.

Depp charged more than $500,000 in rental fees for storage warehouses that hold his Hollywood collectibles, $17,000 in handbags and luggage at Prada and $7,000 for a Keeping Up With the Kardashians couch as a gift for his daughter, Lily-Rose, TMG claims.

These expenditures have come to light in The Management Group's second amended cross-complaint against the actor, the latest filing in a heated legal battle that began in January when Depp sued TMG for $25 million.

In the filing, the managers also say Depp's employees on his private island in the Bahamas racked up about a million dollars in charges related to the island's expenses — and they had to pay off a large balance after the actor stopped making payments on the card.

"After terminating TMG in mid-March 2016, Depp continued to make the minimum payments on the CNB Visa card for a time but then refused to pay anything further, forcing TMG to pay off the approximately $55,000 that was still owing on the CNB Visa card," writes attorney Michael Kump. "All charges on the CNB Visa card are undisputedly charges that were incurred on Depp’s behalf similar to, and/or including, the exemplar purchases discussed above. Depp knows all of these expenses were incurred by and/or on his behalf, but simply refuses to pay his debts."

The central dispute is whether Depp's currently dire financial state is the firm's doing or his own — and each side is asking the court for a ruling to that effect.

The actor is asking the court for declaration "(a) that any purported agreement between him and TMG is voidable, invalid, and unenforceable, (b) that he is entitled to disgorgement and restitution of all fees paid to TMG, and (c) that TMG is not entitled to a 'reasonable fee' for legal services as a result of their violations of the California Rules of Professional Conduct."

TMG has amended the complaint to make its request for declaratory relief a mirror image of Depp's. They're asking the court to declare "(a) that there exists a valid and enforceable agreement between TMG, on the one hand, and Depp and his loan out corporations, on the other hand, for professional services and payment of 5% of Depp’s gross revenues, (b) that neither Depp nor his corporations are entitled to disgorgement and/or restitution of any fees paid to TMG, and (c) that in the event there is finding that the California Rules of Professional Conduct apply here and there has been a violation thereof (which TMG denies), then TMG is entitled to a 'reasonable fee.'"

TMG also says it has learned through discovery the identities of the people to whom the actor claims his former business managers lent nearly $10 million of his money without his knowledge or permission. Their identities are redacted from the amended complaint — which TMG claims is to keep Depp from looking "ridiculous" because he's still close with two of them.

"Depp would attempt to have the world believe that TMG acted improperly at the same time he is still employing these two individuals in important, high-level positions even after they supposedly took well over $7 million in unauthorized distributions," writes Kump. "Of course, this is not the case and Depp knows it."

Kump on Thursday sent The Hollywood Reporter a statement about the amended cross-complaint and the information in it that's not publicly shared. "Depp’s exorbitant spending remains at the center of this case," he says. "The cross-complaint is being redacted because Depp is doing everything in his power to hide the identity of the friends and family to whom TMG supposedly distributed money without his authorization. Depp knows how ridiculous he will look when these false allegations are publicly disclosed."

Depp's attorney Adam Waldman has not yet commented on the filing, which is posted in full below.


Note: the article also has the new court documents that TMG actually filed, 39 pages

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Lbock
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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by Lbock » Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:09 pm

Depp's attorney Adam Waldman sent THR a statement Thursday evening. "Today, the Mandels defied Judge Beaudet's previous order to strike their 'allegations' that are nothing more than another attempted character assassination of Mr. Depp," he says. "It is their latest desperate act, but it will not save the Mandels from the consequences that are coming in this fraud case."

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Re: The Lawsuits Thread

Unread post by justintime » Fri Jul 21, 2017 11:26 pm

I can't help wondering if there's any mention, in all of the documentation available thus far, of any sound, strategic investments made for Johnny with Johnny's money during all the time TMG was collecting its millions on Johnny's payroll. Since TMG made such a big deal out of presenting themselves as a one stop money management agency it would seem the first and foremost distributions after taxes, from any client's income, would be precisely that.
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