Edit: Johnny Depp is NOT suing Aclu. Since they don't want to cooperate, he filed a motion to compel. (See picture above)
The title is misleading:
The actor's lawyers believe the altruistic gesture was a sham and have spent more than a year chasing the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union to find out how much they actually received from the actress.
Back in January DailyMail.com revealed a series of documents turned over by hospital bosses which suggested they received only $100,000 – way short of the promised $3.5m 'gift'.
The ACLU refused to cooperate but Depp has now ramped up the pressure by filing a motion to compel in New York Supreme Court to force them to comply with a string of subpoenas and end their 'outrageous stonewalling'.
Depp's lawyers want the docs to prove Heard was lying when she boasted about the giveaway, not only in media interviews but in evidence she gave to a London court.
In the new filing, the star's lawyers point to a September 2019 declaration from Heard in the Virginia suit that states that the idea for the article came from the ACLU itself.
Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, introduced Heard to a colleague, Jessica Weitz 'who in turn suggested the idea that [she] might write an Op-ed about how [her] experience exemplifies the issues faced by those who speak out about abuse and violence,' the filing states.
'Ms. Heard goes on to describe how she worked with the ACLU to draft the Op-Ed and the ACLU handled placing the Op-Ed in a newspaper'.
Ms. Heard made multiple attempts to thwart Mr. Depp's discovery into her purported donation of her entire divorce settlement,' the filing states, describing how she tried and failed to have their subpoenas quashed in the Californian courts.
Heard eventually complied, as did the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, but the ACLU has so far only handed over a limited number of documents and emails.
These include a September 9, 2016 letter from Romero to Heard, on ACLU Foundation letterhead, thanking Ms. Heard for her donation of $350,000 as 'the first installment of your very generous pledge of $3.5 million', the motion reveals.
Also included is 'email correspondence between Ms. Heard and Mr. Romero from June 2017, reflecting that the ACLU had received a $350,000 donation from Ms. Heard, a $100,000 donation from Mr. Depp towards Ms. Heard's pledge, and an 'anonymous' $500,000 which appears from the correspondence to be from 'Elon'.
Depp's lawyers concluded from the documents that Heard donated $450,000 to the ACLU, not the $3,500,000 she claimed.
The organization indicated it 'would not be producing the documents and testimony concerning the Op-Ed without an agreement on confidentiality.'
When no such agreement was reached, Depp's legal crew sued in New York, where the ACLU is based.
'The ACLU Witnesses' reticence to provide more information 'appears to be part of a collusive effort with Ms. Heard to prevent evidence showing that Ms. Heard perjured herself from becoming public,' they allege.
'Applying New York law, the Court should reject the ACLU Witnesses' outrageous stonewalling. Mr. Depp, accordingly, respectfully requests that this Court enter an order directing the ACLU Witnesses to fully comply with the Subpoenas.'