As part of their ongoing legal battle with Johnny Depp, the star’s former business managers have included emails from him in their latest court filing — which reveal, in part, that he was willing to sell off some of his belongings to help his financial situation.
According to documents filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court (and obtained by Deadline), The Mandel Group is fighting back against Depp’s efforts to keep his former agent and lawyer from being subpoenaed as part of the case.
Among the 109-page document are emails from TMG to various members of Depp’s team, including an exchange in 2009 between TMG principal Joel Mandel and Depp himself.
“Since my email to you in September, I have done what 1 was told you wanted done, meaning, ‘getting us through’ financially until work could start again,” Mandel wrote on December 6, 2009. ” Notwithstanding, I need your help in a variety of ways.”
Madel went on to urge Depp to “take it easy” on his spending over the upcoming holidays and wanted to set up a meeting where they could “look realistically at income and expenses and to work together on how to make sure that these are back in balance.”
Depp responded the next day: “i am doing my very best on holiday spending, but there is only so much i can do, as i need to give my kiddies and families as good a Christmas as possible, obviously within reason.”
He went on to say that he was about to start shooting The Tourist (which would pay him $20 million), then he had the next Pirates movies ($35 million), followed by Dark Shadows ($20 million). “i hope that by the amount that will be coming in from work in the coming year and also from back end proceeds, etc., will put everything straight,” he wrote.
Depp then suggested he could sell various belongings if Mandel thought it would help. “what else can i do???” Depp wrote. “you want me to sell same art??? i will. you want me to sell something else???”
Depp went on to offer to sell bikes, cars, property, books and paintings.
Depp’s lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.
Depp filed a $25 million lawsuit against his ex-managers Joel and Rob Mandel at TMG in January, alleging that they swindled him out of millions through fraud, breach of contract and professional negligence. TMG fired back shortly afterwards, labeling the actor a hopeless spendthrift who squandered millions on extravagances like fine wine and art against their advice.
In their countersuit, TMG lists a number of eye-popping expenses they say cost Depp $2 million in monthly bills. The complaint alleges he paid $3.6 million a year for a 40-person staff, $30,000 a month on wine, $400,000 on a diamond cuff for his ex-wife Amber Heard and $5 million to shoot the ashes of his friend, author Hunter S. Thompson, out of a cannon in Aspen.
They also claim the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales star spent over $75 million on property (including a chain of islands in the Bahamas and a French chateau), $18 million to acquire and maintain a luxury yacht and tens of millions on an art collection, including works by Warhol, Klimt, Basquiat, and Modigliani.
Depp’s lawyers have argued that what some have labeled as mindless spending have actually been shrewd investments.
“For example, the island in the Bahamas that he bought for $5.3 million is now worth many times that,” Depp’s attorney, Adam Waldman, previously told PEOPLE. “Similarly, the chateau in France that he bought for single-digit millions is now on the market for $30 million, the Basquiat paintings that he bought for a few million were sold for $14 million, and on and on it goes.”
