Johnny Depp’s former business managers have accused the actor of living off borrowed funds in order to support his $2 million-a-month lifestyle and are demanding he hand over his financial documents as proof, Daily Mail has revealed.
Depp sued The Management Group in January for $25 million, alleging fraud and negligence. He also accused the LA-based firm, run by brothers Joel Mandel and Rob Mandel, of failing to file his taxes on time and taking out high-interest loans on his behalf. Depp claimed that TMG led him to be more than $40 million in debt.
In a countersuit, the actor’s ex-managers cited Depp’s lavish lifestyle as the cause of his financial downfall.
“Depp lived an ultra-extravagant lifestyle that often knowingly cost Depp in excess of $2 million per month to maintain, which he simply could not afford,” the Mandel brothers’ attorney, Michael Kump, wrote in the cross-complaint. “Depp, and Depp alone is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today.”
The actor filed the suit the same day his divorce from Amber Heard was finalized.
“TMG did everything within its power over the last 17 years to protect Depp from himself and to keep Depp financially solvent,” Kump wrote in his clients’ cross-complaint, as E! News first reported.
“However, ultimately TMG did not have the power or ability to control Depp’s spending or his numerous other vices, or to force Depp to make wiser financial decisions.”
Now, TMG is demanding that Depp hand over any documents for loans he has received that are more than $5,000, according to papers filed in a Los Angeles court last week.
TMG says the documents are relevant because Depp ‘falsely alleges’ TMG took out loans without his knowledge. They also claim Depp is lying that he didn’t know about the loans because he signed every loan he received while TMG was working for him.
“Why didn’t they drop me as a client if I was so out of control?” the 53-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales actor asked in a Wall Street Journal interview. “I’ve worked very, very hard for a lot of years and trusted a lot of people, some who’ve clearly let me down.”
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.
