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 tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct, cites his lawyer.
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.
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.