JOHNNY DEPP has launched a $25 million court action against his former business managers, on the day his divorce from Amber Heard was finalised.
The Hollywood star has filed a lawsuit against The Management Group (TMG) over claims he has been the victim of "gross mismanagement" which has cost him "tens of millions of dollars".
According to documents filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Depp, 53, claims the company and its owners, Joel and Robert Mandel, failed to properly pay his taxes, made unauthorised loans and overpaid for security and other services.
He has filed 11 complaints, including fraud, breach of contract and professional negligence, and is seeking damages of more than $25m ((£20.5m).
The complaint states: "As a result of years of gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud, Mr 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.
"In essence, TMG treated Mr Depp's income as their own, available to either TMG or third parties to draw upon as desired."
Lawyer Michael Kump, representing TMG, said Depp's lawsuit was a "fabrication" and the firm did "everything possible to protect Depp from his irresponsible and profligate spending".
He also claimed the Pirates Of The Caribbean actor owed TMG $4.2m (£3.4m) from a $5m loan it provided.
"His tactics and lawsuit will fail, and he will be forced to pay back the loan as promised," Kump added.
Depp's lawsuit was filed on Friday, the same day his divorce from actress Heard was finalised at Los Angeles Superior Court.
Depp – who was accused of domestic violence by Heard after their split in April – has agreed to pay her $7m (£5.7m), which she has pledged to donate to charity.
Heard, 30, will keep their dogs, Pistol and Boo, and a horse named Arrow, under their divorce agreement. Hear brought the two dogs into Australia illegally in May 2015 and was originally charged. But after giving a good behaviour bond and making a public apology the charge was dropped.
A confidentiality provision calls for them to refrain from discussing their relationship in interviews or on social media.
In a statement, Depp's Laura Wasser said: "We are all pleased to put this unpleasant chapter in Mr Depp and his family's lives behind them. Having his request for entry of the dissolution judgment granted today made it a particularly lucky Friday the Thirteenth."
Heard's lawyer Pierce O'Donnell said: "My client would be very happy to move on with her life."
Following the domestic abuse allegations, Depp and Heard, who split up after 15 months of marriage, issued a joint statement in August saying there was there was "never any intent of physical or emotional harm".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here