Johnny Depp's ex manager alleges he spent $2 million a month
Johnny Depp's ex manager says the Pirates of the Caribbean actor paid $3 million to fire Hunter S Thompson's ashes out of a cannon, and regularly spent as much as $2 million in a month. The claims are the latest salvo in a bitter legal dispute between the star and his ex-management.
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Proceedings started in the middle of January, with Depp filing a suit that accused the management group (TMG) of defrauding him out of $25 million. According to The Mirror, he suggested that the company had mismanaged his finances, and hidden the full horror from him, until they advised him to sell his property in France to pay his debts.
Now, the BBC reports that the group has counter-sued, claiming that it was Depp's own extravagance that led him into financial difficulties. It said that he had been kept fully informed, but was simply spending more than he was earning.
Documents obtained by Deadline in the US went on to list a series of alleged expenses, including $75 million on 14 homes; $18 million on a 150-foot yacht, and $4 million on a record label. It also says he spent $30,000 a month on wine, $200,000 a month on private planes, $150,000 a month on private security, and $300,000 a month on a staff of 40 people.
The suit claims: "Depp, and Depp alone, is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today. He has refused to live within his means, despite the best efforts of TMG and the repeated warnings about his financial condition from TMG and his other advisors." It also alleged that Depp still owes the company $4.2 million.
TMG has filed non-judicial foreclosure proceedings on Depp's home, to have the debt repaid. It claimed that Depp's suit was intended to disrupt foreclosure proceedings.
The Mirror reported that Adam Waldman, Depp's personal attorney, issued this response to the countersuit: "How cataloguing alleged spending by Mr. Depp of his own money could somehow absolve the defendants of their large and multi-faceted mosaic of wrongdoing will ultimately be determined by the Court."
Celebrity spending
The courts will have to pick through the details of this case to see how the arguments stack up. We don't know what Depp's spending habits are, but there have been plenty of other celebrities with expensive habits. Five of the most striking celebrity purchases include:
1. The £16 million jet that Tom Cruise bought for his then-wife Katie Holmes.
2. The £8 million diamond ring that billionaire James Packer gave Mariah Carey when they got engaged - which she kept for sentimental reasons after they called the engagement off.
3. The $100 million private jet bought by Donald Trump before his election to office. His well-documented love of gold interior design helped bump up the cost, with details like gold taps in the bathroom.
4. The $325,000 kennel bought by Paris Hilton in 2011. It's essentially a house built for her six dogs, complete with essentials like a crystal chandelier.
5. The Tyrannosaurus batter skull bought at auction by Nicholas Cage in 2007 for $276,000.
