Johnny Depp wins legal battle involving Amber Heard donation to ACLU

A
New York judge has ruled in favor of actor Johnny Depp’s request to determine whether
ex-wife Amber Heard followed through with donating part of her divorce
settlement to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), reports people.com.

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The
actress, 35, previously pledged to donate her $7 million settlement to both the
ACLU and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shortly after the pair’s divorce was
finalized in 2017.

According to the court papers, filed by Depp and his lawyers
in New York and obtained by PEOPLE this past May, they have been asking both
organizations to share how much Heard has donated.

“Mr.
Depp is most gratified by the Court’s decision,” the Sweeney Todd actor’s
attorney, Benjamin Chew, told the USA today in a statement.

In
a July 22 hearing transcript provided to people.com by Heard’s attorney Elaine
Bredehoft, Bredehoft said her client is still planning to donate one half of
her total settlement to the ACLU and the other half to CHLA.

“We
produced the documents from the ACLU on how much she has. She has always said
she fully intends to continue to give the full $7 million, but she can’t do it
yet. She will do it when she can. But she has given a significant amount to
both,” Bredehoft added of Heard, in part.

Depp
sued the ACLU back in May to force the nonprofit to reveal whether Heard made
the donations she pledged after their divorce settlement.

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Depp
previously claimed Heard hadn’t donated the money while hoping to overturn the
ruling in his “wife-beater” libel case against the U.K.’s The Sun
earlier this year. Depp’s lawyers argued the judge was swayed by Heard’s
pledges to charity.

In reply, Heard’s legal team stated that she has done
“nothing dishonest” with her donations to both charities and that she
“pledged to pay over 10 years” — something they added was
“understood” by the ACLU.

To support this, the actress’s attorneys provided their own
evidence, which they said showed Heard has gifted $950,000 to the ACLU and
$850,000 to the CHLA through anonymous donors.