Johnny Depp is suing his former business managers for $25 million.
The 53-year-old actor filed a 52-page lawsuit in Los Angeles on Friday (13.01.17), in which he accused The Mandel Co., The Management Group, Joel L. Mandel, Robert Mandel, First American Title Insurance Co. and 15 other unnamed defendants of "gross misconduct" that resulted in him losing "tens of millions of dollars."
Johnny – who is seeking a jury trial – claims self-dealing by TMG has forced him to sell off assets to pay for the losses he has sustained.
The suit accuses TMZ of paying itself more than $28 million in contingency fees without a written agreement; failing to file or pay his taxes on time, resulting in more than $5.6 million in fees and penalties on his federal returns, and "loaning" nearly $10 million to third parties without the actor’s authorisation.
His lawyer, Matthew Kanny, said in the documents: "As a result of years of gross mismanagement and at times, outright fraud, Mr. Depp lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct.
"In essence, TMG treated Mr. Depp’s income as their own, available to either TMG or third parties to draw upon as desired.
"TMG’s gross mismanagement and fraud remained undetected as TMG borrowed millions of dollars to survive from movie-to-movie.
"It was only recently, when Mr. Depp terminated TMG and hired new business management and accounting services, when Mr. Depp learned the gravity of his financial losses and some, but surely not all, of the underlying facts."
The suit contains 11 complaints, including professional negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
The management company have accused the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star – who has children Lily-Rose, 17, and Jack, 14, with former partner Vanessa Paradis – of fabricating the claims and insisted his financial losses are due to his own "profligate" spending.
Attorney Michael Kump said: "For 30 years, Joel and Rob Mandel, and their company The Management Group, have been trusted business managers to some of the most successful individuals and companies in the entertainment business.
"For 17 of those years, they did everything possible to protect Depp from his irresponsible and profligate spending. In December 2012, Depp faced financial ruin with the impending default on a $5 million bank loan. The Mandels bailed him out by loaning him $5 million, which he promised to repay by January 2014.
"Although Depp later changed managers, he never alleged any wrong doing. In October 2016, with Depp still owing $4.2 million, the Mandels started non judicial foreclosure proceedings against certain of Depp’s properties.
"Depp’s lawsuit, filed on the eve of the sale of those properties, is a transparent attempt to derail the foreclosure by concocting and spreading malicious lies about the Mandels. His tactics and lawsuit will fail, and he will be forced to pay back the loan as promised."
Johnny Depp sues ex-business managers
