Elon Musk matched nearly half of ex-girlfriend Amber Heard’s donation to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after the actress vowed to give away her multi-million dollar divorce settlement to charity following her split from Johnny Depp.
Jurors in Heard and Depp’s $100 million libel trial on Thursday heard the actress has so far paid just $1.3 million of the $3.5 million she pledged to the ACLU nearly six years ago, with Musk’s money makes up a large part of it.
The billionaire Tesla founder, 50, gave the civil rights group $500,000 on Heard’s behalf after the two began dating following their 2016 divorce from Depp.
The Aquaman star, 36, announced she would donate the $7 million she received in their settlement to two organizations when the couple’s legal split was finalized in August 2016.
Heard pledged to give half of the money to the ACLU to support their work in “fighting violence against women” and the other $3.5 million to Los Angeles Children’s Hospital.
Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk, 50, donated $500,000 to the ACLU on Amber Heard’s behalf when the two were dating in 2016, the actress’ defamation trial heard Thursday. The two are pictured together in 2017
The court heard the Aquaman actress has so far paid just $1.3 million of the $3.5 million she pledged to the ACLU nearly six years ago, with Musk’s money making up a large portion of that
ACLU chief operating officer and general counsel Terence Dougherty testified Thursday, revealing only half of the money was paid by or on behalf of Heard
But Terence Dougherty, the ACLU’s chief operating officer and general counsel, testified Thursday at the trial, telling the court the organizations’ promised donation has not yet been paid in full.
Dougherty said only a total of $1.3 million has been paid either by or on her behalf to date.
Of that money, Heard contributed $350,000 directly, while $100,000 was paid by Depp and another $350,000 came from a fund held by Fidelity, an investment company.
Another $500,000 payment came from an account at investment firm Vanguard, which Dougherty said he “believed was a fund set up by Elon Musk.”
When asked by one of Depp’s attorneys if there was any news with Musk on the matter, Dougherty said there was.
He said there was a document and emails they had provided to the lawyers in the case regarding the money.
Dougherty said that based on emails with Musk, the ACLU understood that Heard’s donation of $3.5 million would be made over 10 years.
Heard had promised to donate their $7 million divorce settlement to charity, splitting the funds between the ACLU and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
He said that Heard’s money would be considered “deposit,” meaning it would come over time, not as a check all at once.
Heard’s attorneys have previously told the court that she intends to pay the money but for now needs the divorce settlement to pay her legal fees.
The court heard that Heard’s last donation of $350,000 was in December 2018 and had not paid any money since.
Dougherty said Heard told the organization the money came from her anonymous account with Fidelity, but they did not do any further verification to guarantee it was their money.
One of Depp’s attorneys asked Dougherty what “efforts the ACLU made to get Amber Heard to pay.”
He replied, “We have reached out to Miss Heard about the next installment of her donation, beginning in 2019, and we have learned that she is experiencing financial difficulties.”
The court heard that Musk played a central role in setting up Heard’s donations to the ACLU, in part because he had previously donated to her.
Heard and Musk dated for a year following the actress’ divorce from Johnny Depp in 2016
Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, which began April 10, is expected to last five or six weeks
In an email dated August 18, 2016, Musk wrote to Heard and Anthony Romero, the ACLU executive director: “I have outlined your (Heard’s) plan to donate $3.5 million to the ACLU over the next 10 years you very much believe what you are doing’.
The court heard that Robin Shulman, a communications strategist at the ACLU, wrote the first draft of the commentary in November 2018, a month before the article was published.
In a message to Heard on Nov. 29, 2018, Shulman said she was trying to “gather your fire and anger” and fashion a comment out of it.
When asked if that meant anger at Depp, Dougherty said it was about “gender-based violence.”
In a follow-up message, Shulman told Heard, “Our attorneys should look into this the way I circumvented your marriage.”
Jessica Weitz, another member of the ACLU communications team, told Heard, “I want to make sure nothing has been said here that would put you at risk with your NDA,” with Depp after the divorce.
Shulman and Heard met in person and that comment was changed, the court heard.
Heard’s attorneys also made some changes.
One of Depp’s attorneys asked Dougherty, “Some at the ACLU expressed a belief that removing references to Johnny Depp’s marriage and divorce made the comment less effective?”
Dougherty said, “That’s right”.
Dougherty said the ACLU was responsible for publishing the comment, and considered The New York Times, Washington Post, Teen Vogue, and USA Today as places to go.
As Dougherty put it, the list was “of decreasing importance and scope,” but more likely they would release it.
Gerry Johnson, one of the ACLU communications team, emailed his colleagues with the guest commentary schedule to appear at the same time as the premiere of Aquaman, the film Heard starred in.
Johnson wrote, “Since the design is pretty strong and Aquaman wanted to make a large number, I wonder what you think of that?”
Actress Amber Heard returns after a hiatus at Fairfax County Circuit Court on Thursday, April 28, 2022
Depp, 58, had previously accused his ex-wife of lying about giving away their entire divorce sum to charity
Depp sued his ex-wife, Amber Heard, in Fairfax County Circuit Court for defamation after she wrote a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post in which she described herself as a “public figure who advocates domestic violence.”
Dougherty said the media would be more likely to adopt a comment if it had ‘strong views’ and the more public the person is at that point, the ‘more likely they’ll be accepted by a more prominent media outlet’.
Depp’s attorneys asked Dougherty if Heard’s marriage to Depp made the comment a “stronger product.”
Dougherty said, “Amber’s contributions to the portion of the comment that talks about personal experiences substantiated the view that this was a strong comment.”
One of Depp’s attorneys asked, “She wanted the commentary to come out shortly after Aquaman was released?”
Dougherty said: “I remember there was a conversation about optimal timing”
Dougherty added that it was “right” that Heard wanted the article to come out right after Aquaman was released.
On December 11, 2018, Witz emailed her colleagues that Heard’s team had returned a final draft, but that it “neutered much of her marriage and domestic violence.”
Witz said the goal was “to get this out this week to capitalize on the tremendous campaign for Aquaman,” referring to the publicity surrounding the film.
In follow-up emails, Witz said that Heard wanted a mention about her reinserting a restraining order in the article.
Witz said, ‘Is there an artful way to do that?’
Such a mention didn’t make it into the final cut.
Around this time, another member of ACLU communications, Stacey Sullivan, introduced the article to Michael Duffy, a Washington Post editor.
Emails shown in court Thursday revealed that Johnny Depp contributed to Heard’s $3.5 million pledge to the ACLU
The email read: “Hey Michael, I was wondering if we might interest you in a comment from Amber Heard, ‘who you may recall was beaten up during her brief marriage to Johnny Depp.’
After agreeing that the article would be published, Heard emailed her team and the ACLU, “It’s going to the Washington Post!!!”
The court also heard about the panic within the ACLU when Reuters inquired in 2019 how much of her $3.5 million pledge Heard had paid.
In an email to colleagues, Witz insisted that Heard had “donated her entire severance pay to charity,” but investigation found she only paid $1.3 million
As Witz and her colleagues struggled to formulate a statement to Reuters, she emailed her colleagues: “I had nightmares about this last night, do you think that’s okay?”
Depp’s attorneys asked if Witz was “concerned the ACLU isn’t telling the truth?
As Depp looked on and smiled, Dougherty said, “She did everything she could to give the press an accurate statement.”