When Johnny Depp filed a lawsuit against his former business associates The Management Group, he alleged that “gross misconduct” had resulted in the loss of tens of millions of dollars. When that happened, representatives for TMG fired back by saying it was Depp who owed them money. Now, the company is officially countersuing its former client for breach of contract and promissory fraud, and The Hollywood Reporter has obtained court documents detailing a lot of what they previously characterized as “profligate spending.”
Joel and Robert Mandel of TMG claim that “Depp lived an ultra-extravagant lifestyle that often knowingly cost Depp in excess of $2 million per month to maintain, which he simply could not afford,” according to a cross-complaint filed today in LA County Superior Court. That lifestyle allegedly includes $75 million spent on 14 properties, a luxury yacht worth $18 million, a wine habit that sets Depp back $30,000 each month, and even a one-time expenditure of $3 million on a special cannon that was used to fire Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes over Aspen, Colorado. While Depp’s lawsuit says TMG took him for close to $40 million, the company says that “Depp is responsible for his own financial waste,” and is seeking fulfillment in its countersuit for a $5 million loan they say he never fully repaid, framing the actor’s suit as an attempt to forestall that repayment.
