Elon Musk, Tesla’s mega-billionaire CEO, was revealed in court to have donated to charities on Amber Heard’s behalf to supplement donations she promised to charities after divorcing Johnny Depp and receiving $7 million in settlement money.
According to court testimony from American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) general counsel Terence Dougherty, cited by People magazine, Heard promised to donate $3.5 million to the charity with the proceeds from her divorce from Depp.
However, the ACLU claimed in court that she had not completed the donations, and that a large portion of the funds had come from other sources, including a $500,000 donation from Musk.
In his deposition, Dougherty stated that Heard only paid $350,000 of the promised $3.5 million directly, with the ACLU receiving one direct check for $100,000 from Depp and $500,000 from a Vanguard fund believed to be from Musk.
When Depp’s attorneys asked Dougherty, “She has not donated $3.5 million to the ACLU as of today, true?” he replied, “True.”
He also stated that Musk had sent an email to the ACLU stating that Heard’s payments would be made in instalments over a 10-year period.
Dougherty speculated that Musk was “representing this on behalf of Ms. Heard” because he had a prior relationship with the organisation. Musk and Heard were also said to be dating at the time.
According to the ACLU, the last payment was made in 2018, after which they “learned that she was having financial difficulties.”
