Johnny Depp’s former lawyers insist they haven’t fleeced him out of any money.
The 54-year-old actor filed a lawsuit against Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Goodman & Schenkman &, LLP, (BHDRLFS&G) in October, alleging they worked with his former financial managers The Management Group (TMG), to try and ruin him but the company have now filed a response, in which they claimed they did nothing wrong and don’t believe the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star suffered any damages due to their services.
The law firm insisted the ‘Lone Ranger’ actor’s financial problems are due to his own misconduct, representations and negligence, and they can’t be held liable for his situation.
And in documents obtained by The Blast, BHDRLFS&G claim their famous client hasn’t paid them since July, despite continuing to use their services. While it is unclear how much Johnny allegedly owes, the deal he has with the company is they receive a percentage of his entertainment income.
According to Johnny’s $30 million lawsuit filed in October, TMG took out loans against his movie residuals, using his film cheques to pay them off, with an additional fee going to the management firm before he was entitled to his money, and the ‘Lone Ranger’ star claimed his lawyers knew about TMG’s alleged actions but didn’t inform him.
And the ‘Edward Scissorhands’ actor insisted the law firm never made him sign a retainer agreement – despite him paying millions of dollars in fees over the years.
Johnny was recently accused of "throwing his family under the bus" in a legal dispute against TMG.
He accused the firm of mismanaging his affairs by means of "gross misconduct", "fraudulent" self- activity, and unauthorised personal loans and in return, the company claimed their former client owed them money for unpaid services and released detail about his lavish spending and warnings they had given him.
But last month, TMG amended their complaint, responding to the loan aspect of Johnny’s lawsuit and naming his sister Christi Dembrowski – the actor’s personal manager and head of his production company – nephew William Rassel, personal assistant Nathan Holmes, Unison Music and friends James Russo, Sal Jenco, and Bruce Witkin as cross-defendants to the cross-complaint.
They said in legal documents: "In his attempt to avoid paying his debts to TMG, Depp is knowingly throwing his closest family, friends and employees under the bus by falsely alleging that they took millions of dollars in unauthorized payments from him.
"It is no wonder that Depp delayed for months in revealing their names. (sic)"
Johnny Depp’s lawyers hit back
