Elon Musk has once again been dragged into the Amber Heard defamation case with ex-husband Johnny Depp, with the court hearing that Musk actually donated to charity on Heard’s behalf after she reneged on promised donations to charities.
According to the court testimony of the attorney general of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Terence Dougherty, quoted by People magazine, Heard had pledged $3.5 million in donations to the charity with the money she received upon divorcing Depp.
However, the ACLU claimed in court that it did not complete the donations and, in fact, a large sum of the donated money actually came from other sources, including a $500,000 donation from Musk.
Dougherty said in his deposition that Heard only paid $350,000 of the promised $3.5 million directly, and the ACLU received a $100,000 direct check from Depp, $500,000 from a fund at Vanguard, understood to be from Musk.
When Depp’s lawyers asked Dougherty, “She hasn’t donated $3.5 million to the ACLU to date, has she?” he replied, “Right.”
He also said Musk had sent the ACLU an email saying Heard’s payments would be made in installments over a 10-year period.
When asked why Musk was “representing this on behalf of Ms. Heard,” Dougherty said he thought it was because he had a prior relationship with the organization. Musk and Heard were also understood to have dated at the time.
The last payment came in 2018, after which the ACLU says they “learned he was having financial difficulties.”