Amber Heard could face a perjury probe after it was revealed that she lied under oath when she claimed she had donated all of the money she received in her divorce settlement.
Back in 2016, after splitting from Johnny Depp, Heard vowed to donate the entire amount of her divorce settlement – $7 million – to charity. The actress said half of the money would go to American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and half to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
On Monday, however, the Aquaman star finally admitted she didn’t honor her pledge.
She also attempted to put the blame on her ex-husband saying she couldn’t complete the donation pledged to ACLU “because Johnny sued me for $50million in March of 2019.”
“I fully intend to honor all of my pledges. I would love for him to stop suing me so I can,” Heard said.
As legal experts have now suggested, the actress could face a perjury probe after repeatedly claiming that she had donated all of the money from her divorce settlement.
“$7million in total was donated – I split it between the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. I wanted nothing,” Heard said on the RTL Late Night talk show in 2018.
On a more serious note, Heard also insisted “the entire amount of my divorce settlement was donated to charity” as she testified under oath in UK High Court during Depp’s 2020 libel case.
As attorney Sean Caulfield now told MailOnline, Heard’s alleged lies could very well lead to a police investigation and perjury probe.
“While it may not be a central issue to the case [the donations], perjury is the single biggest threat and cuts to the core of our justice system, so the police may be invited to investigate to show that any member of the public who lies to the court can be prosecuted for perjury,” Caulfield said.
He added: “And it is always central that people do not perjure themselves. CPS guidance says you will need to know what you said was false, which can be hard, but it should not be that difficult to know whether she had made the donations or not. I can’t see a problem there.
“The other confusion is that she would need to be extradited. If the CPS authorizes a charge, you then have to extradite her which is unlikely, especially as she is a US resident.”
Another legal expert, Mark Stephens, also confirmed that Heard could face a perjury probe but noted that it would be “notoriously difficult” to build a case against the actress.
“It is notoriously difficult to bring and prosecute a perjury case. You have to show that someone deliberately told an untruth as opposed to them being confused or misremembering. I think it would be a very difficult thing to do,” Stephens explained.
“Police could investigate it, but they probably would not prosecute it. The case is not about what she spent her money on, but what took place during their relationship.
“I accept misleading a court is a big issue, but this is a line that Depp’s team ran in London. How do you prove that she knew? She may have been given advice that the donations were made.”
He concluded: “Access to bank accounts if you are a celebrity may be managed. You may well believe that you made or have committed to the donations.”
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