(RepublicanInformer.com)- In testimony during the tabloid trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, the ACLU’s Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Terence Dougherty testified that Heard’s ex-boyfriend Elon Musk paid almost half of the donation Heard made to the ACLU in 2017.
Heard had initially vowed to donate $3.5 million to the ACLU from her divorce settlement with Depp. Ultimately, Heard paid less than half that amount, $1.3 million. A large chunk of that, however, wasn’t paid by Heard, but by Musk.
Dougherty explained that Heard only paid $350,000 of her own money, while Depp kicked in another $100,000 in Heard’s name. Another $350,000 was anonymously donated in her name from a “donor-advised fund” at Fidelity.
Then in July 2017, another half a million was donated to the ACLU from an account at The Vanguard Group. Dougherty testified that he believed the Vanguard fund was set up by Elon Musk.
According to Dougherty, Musk had contacted the ACLU’s executive director about the donation. Based on those email communications, Dougherty explained, the ACLU concluded that Heard’s $3.5 million would be made in installments over ten years.
But after the four separate payments totaling $1.3 million, Dougherty said Heard stopped making any additional donations. He told Depp’s lawyer that the ACLU contacted Heard starting in 2019 to find out when to expect another installment.
The lesson here? Never promise to donate a specific dollar amount to the ACLU. If you don’t cough up the full amount, they will hound you like collection agents until you make good.
Depp is suing his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 article she wrote for the Washington Post, portraying herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Depp alleges that Heard painting him as a domestic abuser from the pages of the Post has harmed his career. He is seeking $50 million.
Heard is countersuing for $100 million.
On the plus side, if Amber wins, she can finally pay the ACLU the rest of the money she promised.
