Amber Heard May Face Perjury Probe After Admitting Not Donating Depp Divorce Settlement to Charity

As she testified on 16 May at Fairfax County, Virginia courthouse in the ongoing defamation trial launched against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp, Amber Heard acknowledged she had failed to fulfil her pledge to donate the entire $7 million from her divorce settlement with the actor in 2016 to two charities.

Amber Heard could potentially face a police probe over claims of perjury, according to legal experts cited by the Daily Mail.

After the Aquaman star admitted to not giving $3.5million from her $7 million divorce settlement with Johnny Depp to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), despite telling the UK High Court under oath that she had, Heard has been accused of misleading the public.

After the couple divorced in 2016, Amber Heard vowed she would split the £5.5million ($7million) settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

In 2018, during an appearance on Dutch talk show RTL Late Night, Heard claimed that “$7million in total was donated - I split it between the ACLU and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. I wanted nothing”.

The actress made similar statements under oath in her 2020 libel case with Depp in the UK.

However, taking the stand on 16 May in the ongoing defamation lawsuit launched by ex-husband Johnny Depp, the 36-year-old actress said she has yet to make the full donation “because Johnny sued me for $50 million in March of 2019”.

"I still fully intend on honoring all of my pledges… I would love him to stop suing me so I can", Heard added on Monday.

Weighing in on the police potentially investigating the claims against Amber Heard, Sean Caulfield, partner at law firm Hodge, Jones and Allen, was cited by the outlet as saying:

“Yes, I think so… perjury is the single biggest threat and cuts to the core of our justice system, so the police may be invited to investigate to show that any member of the public who lies to the court can be prosecuted for perjury”.

Caulfield acknowledged that perjury is difficult to prove. “…It is not a central issue before the court, but if Depp's legal team are trying to paint a picture [that she is trying to keep the money], then it is”, he stated.

According to the legal expert, “Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance says you will need to know what you said was false, which can be hard, but it should not be that difficult to know whether she had made the donations or not. I can't see a problem there”.

He also singled out the fact that Amber Heard is a US resident, and as such would “need to be extradited”.

Another legal expert, Mark Stephens, agreed that the police could decide to probe the claims against Heard.

“It is notoriously difficult to bring and prosecute a perjury case. You have to show that someone deliberately told an untruth as opposed to them being confused or misremembering… Access to bank accounts if you are a celebrity may be managed. You may well believe that you made or have committed to the donations… Police could investigate it, but they probably would not prosecute it”, stated the legal expert.

He also voiced the opinion that as things stood, Amber Heard's lawyers looked like they were being “outgunned” by Johnny Depp's legal team.

Depp's lawyer Camille Vasquez also argued on Monday that Heard had the settlement money for months before the lawsuit, yet failed to donate it as promised.

This comes as earlier in the defamation lawsuit that Depp launched against heard, Terence Dougherty, the ACLU chief operating officer and general counsel, testified that so far only a total of $1.3 million has either been donated by Heard or on her behalf.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star’s lawyers accused Amber Heard of giving away “a fraction” of the huge sum to charity as part of a “calculated and manipulative lie” to make herself look better during their legal battle.

The American actor and producer is suing his ex-wife for $50 million. Depp alleges she defamed him in an op-ed piece she published in The Washington Post (printed in Fairfax County) in December 2018.

Back then, while claiming to have been a victim of domestic abuse, Heard never directly named Depp.

After the publication, the star of hits like Edward Scissorhands, Donnie Brasco, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, together with his former lawyer, slammed Heard's claims as having harmed his career, and filed a suit in March 2019, which stated the woman was not a victim of domestic abuse, but a “perpetrator”. Amber Heard countersued for $100 million.