As actor Johnny Depp awaits his appeal decision in the “wife beater” libel case, his lawyers are hopeful that he may get a courtroom win, thanks to his ex-wife Amber Heard‘s alleged charity goof up. In November last year, Depp lost the libel case against Britain’s The Sun newspaper that accused him of being an abusive husband and called him a “wife beater”. 

During a hearing on Thursday, the embattled star’s lawyers asked for permission to appeal against the judgment. They also told the court that Amber had lied about donating her $7m divorce settlement to charity. 

Post their split in 2016, 34-year-old Amber had said that she would donate the full divorce settlement to charity. She said she would split the amount between two organisations- the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Depp’s barrister Andrew Caldecott QC told the court on Thursday that the hospital informed the actor’s business adviser that Heard had not made “any payments”. He added that Amber donated just $100,000 to the hospital and $450,000 to the ACLU.