Actor Johnny Depp must be doing the math on his finances these days. Just days after a court judge has settled his divorce with former wife Amber Heard and asked the actor to pay $7 million as settlement, Depp has lodged a complaint against his former business managers for $25 million. Some reports put the amount at $33 million, though.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor is suing his previous business managers allegedly for gross misconduct that resulted in him losing tens of millions of dollars in the process, reports Variety.
Depp made the allegations in a lawsuit filed on January 20 in a state court in Los Angeles. He filed the complaint, which is 52 pages long, against The Mandel Co., The Management Group, Joel L. Mandel, Robert Mandel, First American Title Insurance Co., and 15 other unnamed defendants.
The “Edward Scissorhands” actor is seeking a jury trial and asking for compensatory damages as he alleged that the self-dealing by TMG was so extensive that he’s been forced to sell off assets to pay for the losses.
The suit contains 11 causes of action, including professional negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
A result of profligate spending
The management companies have denied the actor’s allegations and responded that the lawsuit is a mere fabrication and a result of Depp’s profligate spending.
Attorney Matthew Kanny, the lawyer of Johnny Depp, said that his client is one of the most sought after and highly paid actors in the world. But he said that his client is a victim of the gross misconduct of his business managers purportedly based on an oral contract, all at the actor’s expense.
Kanny explained that like many successful artists who depend on financial professionals to advise them, Johnny Depp trusted and reasonably relied on TMG to handle his financial and certain legal affairs and to ensure that he and his family would have a financially secure future, built upon the foundation of the substantial money that the actor earned through years of hard work.
But instead, as a result of years of gross mismanagement and at times, outright fraud, Johnny Depp lost a lot of money.
The lawyer also said that it was only recently when Mr. Depp terminated TMG and hired new business management and accounting services, when the actor learned the gravity of his financial losses and some, but surely not all, of the underlying facts.
Protecting the actor from wanton spending
Michael Kump, the lawyer for TMG and the Mandels, explained that for 30 years, Joel and Rob Mandel, and their company The Management Group, have been trusted business managers to some of the most successful individuals and companies in the entertainment business.
He added that for 17 of those years, they did everything possible to protect Depp from his irresponsible and profligate spending. In December 2012, Depp faced financial ruin with the impending default on a $5 million bank loan. 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 nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings against some 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, according to Kump.
The company represented Depp from 1999 until March 2016, receiving 5% of his income from his films including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, all four films, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.