Johnny Depp has been accused of "throwing his family under the bus" in a legal dispute against his former management company.
Johnny Depp
The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor accused The Management Group (TMG) of mismanaging his affairs by means of "gross misconduct", "fraudulent" self- activity, and unauthorised personal loans and in return, the company argued their former client owed them money for unpaid services and released detail about his lavish spending and warnings they had given him.
And TMG have now amended their complaint by responding to the loan aspect of Johnny's suit and named his sister Christi Dembrowski - who serves as her famous brother'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 obtained by Deadline: "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."
The company's argument is that if Johnny wants the money back that they loaned out on his behalf, he is suing the wrong people, and under California's equitable indemnity laws, a judge could make his friends and family pay back the money directly to the 54-year-old star.
The amendment adds: "Depp's claims of unauthorized loans to the new Cross-Defendants are not a basis for Depp to obtain a judicial declaration requiring the disgorgement of any business management fees from TMG, or for any of his other baseless claims.
"Depp's closest friends, family, and colleagues who have been added as new Cross-Defendants in this action have only Depp to blame for their involvement in this charade."
TMG insists the loans were authorised by the 'Lone Ranger' star, or his sister acting on his begalf.
A trial for the case is set to start on August 15, 2018.
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