| Cast member Johnny Depp poses at the premiere of ”Alice Through the Looking Glass” at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood, U.S., May 23, 2016. |
Johnny Depp took himself to the brink of financial ruin by spending tens of millions of dollars on homes, art, cars, a yacht and Hollywood memorabilia, according to a lawsuit filed by his former business managers.
The suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday by the Mandel Company, which handled Depp’s affairs for 17 years until being fired in March 2016, was a counterclaim to the actor’s $25 million lawsuit last month accusing the firm of fraud and financial mismanagement.
The court papers detailed Depp’s spending as including $75 million on buying or improving 14 residences, including a French chateau and a chain of islands in the Bahamas. He also bought 45 luxury vehicles, amassed a 200-piece art collection with works by Andy Warhol and Amedeo Modigliani and has 12 storage units full of memorabilia associated with Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and other celebrities, the lawsuit said.
The actor, whose career took off after the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie in 2003, also spent more than $3 million to blast the ashes of author Hunter Thompson over Aspen, Colorado, from a cannon, the lawsuit alleged.
Depp lawyer Adam Waldman responded to the lawsuit with a statement saying: “How cataloguing alleged spending by Mr. Depp of his own money could somehow absolve the defendants of a large and multi-faceted mosaic of wrongdoing will ultimately be determined by the court.”
Last month Depp’s divorce from actress Amber Heard was finalized, ending their 15-month marriage. Depp, 53, agreed to pay $7 million to Heard that she said will be donated to charity.
The Mandel Company, which is seeking $560,000 in damages and fees owed by Depp, said it had done “everything possible to protect Depp from his own irresponsible and profligate spending” to no avail.
“Depp, and Depp alone, is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today,” the lawsuit said. “He has refused to live within his means.”
Forbes magazine ranked Depp as Hollywood’s highest paid actor from June 2009 to June 2010 with earnings of $75 million. In December, the magazine named him the most overpaid actor for a second straight year as films such as “Alice Through the Looking Glass” and “Mortdecai” did not fare well.