donation amber heard

"I know these organizations will put the funds to good use and look forward to continuing to support them in the future. Hopefully, this experience results in a positive change in the lives of people who need it the most," the actress concluded in her statement.

By the time of the deposition's recording in December 2021, the ACLU (which is a nonprofit dedicated to defending individuals' rights and liberties) had only received $1.3 million in her name, he said.

Although Heard's wealth is unclear, she has earned millions for her work in TV and films such as "Aquaman" and "Aquaman 2." She previously received a $7 million settlement from Depp after their 2016 divorce, which she pledged to donate to charities including the American Civil Liberties Union. During the trial she said she hadn't yet fulfilled the pledge because of Depp's lawsuit.

While Heard can appeal the verdict, she could be required to post a bond for the full $10.35 million judgment, plus interest, as the appeal proceeds, said attorney Sandra Spurgeon of Spurgeon Law Group in Lexington, Kentucky.

"For an individual who doesn't have the ability to pay the judgment and no ability to post the bond, then there is a real issue if the winning party intends to execute the judgment," Spurgeon told CBS MoneyWatch.

Heard didn't address the financial terms of the verdict in a statement she published on Twitter on Wednesday in which she expressed "disappointment" at the jury's decision. Here are Heard's options following the highly publicized trial:

If she wishes to stay the execution of the $10.35 million judgment, she will likely be required to post a bond, said Brian Pastor, an attorney in Atlanta who specializes in litigation and securities and who has experience in dealing with judgments. Heard could also opt not to post a bond, but that would allow Depp to execute on the judgment, he noted.

"The question is if she says, 'Look, I don't have it. It's not there — you can look in my bank accounts,' then we can talk about things like garnishing her wages," said CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson.

She added, "That's not an unusual situation where somebody says, 'I don't have — I can't fulfill this,' and so I certainly think because she has earning potential," part of her wages could be garnished as a result.

Depp could go after more than her wages, Pastor noted. He could also collect by going after her real estate, jewelry and other valuable items — although some assets, such as retirement accounts, would be protected.

Heard also has the option of filing for bankruptcy, but she might not be able to discharge the $10.35 million debt through insolvency, Pastor noted. That's because of a part of bankruptcy law that carves out debts stemming from "willful and malicious injury by the debtor" to another party.

However, Depp would need to raise an objection to her attempt to expunge the debt through bankruptcy, citing this portion of law, Pastor noted. It's possible he could decide against objecting in such a situation.

"The overriding issue is, with someone like Depp, is that as a practical matter you want to go back to making movies that make you a giant payday, and therefore, the most important thing for you isn't this $10.35 million, it's your ability to get a paycheck for $10, $20, $30 million," Pastor noted. "Ticket buyers might be turned off by him going after her for that $10.3 million."

In his Instagram comment after the verdict, Depp didn't indicate whether he intends to pursue the monetary judgment against Heard. He wrote that the "goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome."

She’s a disgusting person using this child as a pawn to keep her sugar daddy paying the bills in the future. She didn’t carry the child and the baby is likely just another accessory in Amber’s life. May God protect that innocent child.

Amber Heard listens during ex-husband Johnny Depp's defamation trial against her at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 18, 2022. - US actor Johnny Depp is suing ex-wife Amber Heard for libel after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse.

During the testimony, Terence Dougherty said that the ACLU had received donations of $350,000, $500,000 and $350,000 that were all "associated" with Heard. The organization's chief operating officer added that the ACLU now deems a $100,000 payment from Depp to be part of Heard's gifts.

Actress Amber Heard hasn't paid the full $3.5 million which she pledged to donate to ACLU, according to the non-profit's chief operating officer Terence Dougherty. Pictured above, Heard talks to her attorney in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 18.

"Two years later, in 2018, the ACLU invited Ms. Heard to become an ambassador and to work with us on an op-ed to bring attention to the issue of sexual assault and domestic violence issues; she agreed. Through her ambassadorship, Ms. Heard supported our advocacy for gender justice issues, a cause that has long been central to our mission at least since Ruth Bader Ginsburg headed the ACLU's Women's Rights Project."

Back in June 2017, according to court testimony, Heard had made only a single $350,000 payment to the ACLU, which remains the only remittance to come directly from her to date. But she was able to reel in a much bigger donor in Musk, one of the world’s richest men, whom she dated for about a year just after her divorce from Depp.

By 2018, the ACLU became even more enmeshed with Heard, who had accused Depp of domestic violence as their brief marriage was unraveling (Depp has denied the claims and says he was the victim of spousal abuse). The group approached the actress to write an op-ed about gender-based violence and suggested that “she can interweave her personal story, saying how painful it is, as a GBV survivor,” an ACLU executive wrote in an email read in court. Despite the fact that Heard had been arrested for hitting ex-partner Tasya van Ree during an altercation at an airport in 2009 — an incident that was widely reported well before Heard became an ACLU ambassador — the group doubled down on its relationship with her. (Heard was not charged in the incident and van Ree later said the events were “misinterpreted and over-sensationalized.”) According to testimony in the defamation trial, the ACLU wound up writing the op-ed and pitched it to the

, with a member of the communications team writing, “Wondering if we might interest you in a piece by Amber Heard (who, as you may recall, was beaten up during her brief marriage to Johnny Depp), on what the incoming Congress can to do to help protect women in similar situations.”

It was a curious pitch considering one of the organization’s chief aims is to protect the right to due process. “The ACLU’s core belief is that people are innocent until proven guilty, and in 2018, these were allegations, not proof,” says University of San Francisco School of Law professor Lara Bazelon, who recently addressed the ACLU’s ties to the Heard-Depp case in an op-ed for

and say Amber Heard was beaten by Johnny Depp is convicting Johnny Depp before any court had. Their job is to presume innocence because that’s what the Constitution requires. So, these communications where they’re going to bat for her seem wildly at odds with what they’re supposed to be doing.”

and used legal resources to help Heard avoid future litigation with her ex-husband, court testimony revealed. On the day the story hit in December 2018, Heard announced via Twitter that she had been named an ACLU ambassador, writing, “The ACLU is the organization that first inspired me to become an activist, so I couldn’t be more excited about our work to make sure women and girls can live free from violence and discrimination.”

While critics like Bazelon suggest that the organization was making a shameless PR grab in its arrangement with Heard, the ACLU counters that its involvement in the op-ed was merely to bring attention to the broader issue of sexual assault and the backlash survivors face when they speak out.

But did the ACLU go even further in helping Heard enhance her reputation and fight Depp after he filed his defamation suit against her in 2019? Depp attorney Ben Chew argued in court that the ACLU actively worked to cover up the fact that Heard never made good on her $3.5 million donation. “They helped her lie about it,” Chew said. “And it’s one thing, Your Honor, for her to stiff the ACLU, which frankly played a reprehensible role in this case. It’s quite another for her to fail to honor her obligation to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, with sick and dying children, and that she failed to do as well.”

Terence Dougherty, general counsel and chief operating officer of the ACLU, testified in Virginia that Heard made a single donation of $350,000 in 2016, and the organization submitted a thank-you letter referring to that transaction, dated Sept. 9, 2016.

searched the 990 tax forms for the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation covering the period of April 1, 2016, through March 31, 2017, and found no donation matching that dollar figure. (In response, the organization tells

that Heard’s donation was made through “a donor fund” that would have kept her name out of its ledgers, and that the dollar figure could have been bundled with other donations.) Heard is expected to face questions about her donations to the ACLU when she is cross-examined this week.

Dougherty, during his testimony, also recharacterized Heard’s donation as a “pledge,” and the organization submitted an undated, unsigned pledge form to the court that it says was created in 2016. But the pledge form was printed on letterhead featuring the ACLU’s centennial logo, raising the prospect that it had been created more recently (the group marked its 100-year anniversary in 2020, the same year Depp’s team subpoenaed the ACLU). A spokesperson for the organization said the group began using the logo in 2014 for fundraising purposes.

, the ACLU’s director of artist engagement, Jessica Herman Weitz, told this reporter: “I don’t think anyone would have looked differently at her if she kept the settlement money that was due to her, but she knew that money could do more for others than it could for her. What that money was able to do to help protect women and other gender-based violence victims will go a long way to make a difference for the people that we serve. That was my first interaction with her, which is pretty bold. It was not, ‘I’ll throw you a tweet.’ It was, ‘I’m putting my money where my mouth is.’”

Even stranger, ACLU attorney Vera Eidelman stated in a Sept. 13, 2019 email to a redacted group of recipients that the organization planned to file an amicus brief in Depp v. Heard in support of the defendant, and asked for consent to the filing. Some attorneys tell

the move seems an odd use of ACLU resources to get involved in what is essentially a high-profile domestic case between celebrities. An ACLU spokesperson counters that its work on behalf of its Women’s Rights Project sometimes involves litigation.

To date, the ACLU has credited Heard with donating $1.3 million, though most of that appears to have been made by Musk and $100,000 came via Depp, testimony showed. In their June 2017 email exchange, Romero wrote to Heard, referring to a philanthropic fund used by anonymous wealthy donors:

“We did get a $500,000 check from Vanguard Charitable on 6/9. If this is your gift, I’m guessing you want me to apply that amount to the overall pledge.” Heard responded: “Yes! Sorry! Was not meant to go through vanguard. … I’m back in L.A. to see E and he said he had a great talk with you.”

For his part, Dougherty testified that the $500,000 came from Musk’s account, and that an additional $350,000 made anonymously on Heard’s behalf in 2018 also likely was made by the Tesla billionaire. He added that no payments have been made by the actress or on her behalf since.

Heard’s team declined to comment about why she testified in the U.K. trial that she had donated the full $7 million to charity, but a source close to the actress claims that she has been forced to spend $6 million of her own money defending herself against Depp’s suits. A Depp spokesperson counters: “Ms. Heard had the entirety of the divorce settlement in her possession for well over a year before Johnny began any legal proceedings against her. Within five minutes of receiving the funds she could have written a check to support sick children at the CHLA and advance the cause of the ACLU, but she did neither, all the while publicly claiming it had already been done.”

Though Heard and Musk had called it quits by 2018, his relationship with the ACLU continues to go strong. The nonprofit says Musk has donated $6 million to its coffers to date, while declining to clarify to

Any chance that Musk might shine light on the ACLU matter appears slim. Depp’s lawyers were unable to serve Musk, and he never sat for a deposition. Though Heard included Musk on her witness list, he has indicated that he has no plans to take the stand.

In 2016, Amber Heard was praised after she publicly vowed to donate her $7 million divorce settlement from Johnny Depp to charity: $3.5 million to the ACLU, and another $3.5 million to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. But with information revealed in an investigation by Rolling Stone and the currently unfolding court battle between Heard and her ex-husband, complications have surfaced. By 2017, Heard had only donated $350,000 of the pledged sum, and to this date, according to court testimony, there is no record of any other payments directly on her behalf. Things became even more confusing when the investigation dug into the involvement of Heard’s ex-boyfriend, tech billionaire Elon Musk.

What’s even more bizarre is the ACLU’s place in the growing scandal, as they seem to be covering and conspiring with Heard as Depp’s defamation lawsuit against her presses on. The venerated nonprofit suggested to The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 that Heard had donated the full $3.5 million with its director of artist engagement, Jessica Herman Weitz, saying, “I don’t think anyone would have looked differently at her if she kept the settlement money that was due to her, but she knew that money could do more for others than it could for her. What that money was able to do to help protect women and other gender-based violence victims will go a long way to make a difference for the people that we serve. That was my first interaction with her, which is pretty bold. It was not, ‘I’ll throw you a tweet.’ It was, ‘I’m putting my money where my mouth is.’”

Heard will be cross-examined on the matter in the coming days, which will hopefully demystify the matter a bit more. Depp’s lawyers are holding her feet to the fire though, countering Heard’s point that she’s spent $6 million fighting Depp in court. “Ms. Heard had the entirety of the divorce settlement in her possession for well over a year before Johnny began any legal proceedings against her,” a spokesperson for Depp said. “Within five minutes of receiving the funds she could have written a check to support sick children at the CHLA and advance the cause of the ACLU, but she did neither, all the while publicly claiming it had already been done.”

By October 2018, Heard had received the full settlement amount, she testified Monday in Depp's defamation trial against her. She also said in a media interview at around the same time that she had already donated the funds. But an ACLU executive testified earlier in the trial that the organization never received the full $3.5 million it was promised and that about half the donations it received in Heard's name came from Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla who dated Heard after her breakup with Depp.

In April, Terence Dougherty, the general counsel and chief operating officer of the ACLU, testified in the ongoing trial that $1.3 million had been donated in Heard's name overall, with $350,000 directly from her and $100,000 from Depp and $500,000 from Musk in her name. Dougherty showed the jury a pledge form — unsigned by Heard — laying out how Heard could pay the full $3.5 million over 10 years.

For National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Arnold, it was a moment he'd been dreading. Bare-legged in sandals, he was pulling in a net in a shallow backwater of the lower Colorado River last week, when he spotted three young fish that didn't belong there. Minutes later, the park service confirmed their worst fear: smallmouth bass had in fact been found and were likely reproducing in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam.

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The Aquaman actress was subjected to an intense grilling under cross-examination from Mr Depp’s attorney on Monday afternoon where she claimed that she had been unable to complete the payments because of legal costs from her ex-husband suing her.

Amber Heard has filed a countersuit against Johnny Depp, seeking $100 million in damages and saying his legal team falsely accused her of fabricating claims against Depp. The former couple are seen here in court last week.

The pledge agreement calls for Heard to donate the money over the course of 10 years, starting in August 2016. But she hasn't made a payment since December 2018, ACLU Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Terence Dougherty said in recorded video testimony.

Heard has been credited with donating $1.3 million in four installments, Dougherty said. But not all of the money came directly from her: $100,000 was from Depp, and another $500,000 is from a Vanguard account the ACLU believes to be associated with Elon Musk — whom Heard dated after her breakup with Depp.

Dougherty described the process that went into crafting the op-ed, which he said was reviewed by lawyers from both the ACLU and Heard's own legal team. He described email discussions about how closely the piece should mention Depp — with Heard's attorneys saying that naming him would violate the terms of a non-disclosure agreement in her divorce settlement, and the ACLU's lawyers saying the piece wouldn't have as much impact if Depp weren't mentioned.

Depp's legal team is believed to be nearing the end of its presentations to the jury, and Heard's attorneys are expected to begin presenting their part of the case next week. The court will go back into session on Monday.

The actor pledged to donate some of her divorce settlement to the organization, but after delivering less than half by December 2018, she stopped payments, the ACLU’s chief operating officer and general counsel told the jury on Thursday.

“As described in the restraining order and divorce settlement, money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves,” she said at the time, adding, “As reported in the media, the amount received in the divorce was $7 million and $7 million is being donated. This is over and above any funds that I have given away in the past and will continue to give away in the future.”

According to Dougherty, the last payment was made in 2018, and when the ACLU reached out to Heard in 2019 about the next installment, Dougherty said, “We learned she was having financial difficulties.”

Whether or not she’s donated the full settlement has been a particular sticking point for Depp’s team in this trial, as well as during the appeal of the U.K. trial. Her failure to complete payment is offered as a blight on her credibility, and an example of her striving for good P.R., which Depp’s team argues she doesn’t deserve. In the U.K., Depp’s lawyer Andrew Caldecott attempted to appeal the verdict after the team learned of the truncated payments to the ACLU. Caldecott argued that the alleged lie sent “a potentially subliminal message” to the judge who decided the case, and “strengthened Heard’s credit in an exceptional way.” Caldecott added that it was a “calculated and manipulative lie, designed to achieve a potent favourable impression from the outset.”

The judges hearing the appeal wrote, “We do not accept that there is any ground for believing that the judge may have been influenced by any such general perception as Mr Caldecott relies on. In the first place, he does not refer to her charitable donation at all in the context of his central findings.”

Elaine Bredehoft, who is currently representing the actress in the U.S., said during a hearing in July, “[Heard] 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.”