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On Thursday, April 28, Terence Dougherty, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), was the first witness to be deposed in front of the jury in the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial. The ACLU COO gave his assessment and witness remarks about Amber Heard's claims to have donated portions of her $7 million settlement to the non-profit organization.
Dougherty's deposition was showcased via a pre-recorded video, which was shot in December 2021. In his statement, Dougherty claimed that Amber Heard had not paid most of her promised donation to the ACLU. In fact, the Aquaman star had not made any payments in around three years.
Along with the COO's statement, a few email interactions between Dougherty and Heard were showcased to the jury. Dougherty also stated that the ACLU did not send out a press release about the actress' $3.5 million pledge upon Heard's request.
What is the ACLU? Amber Heard failed to pay her pledge from Johnny Depp's divorce settlement
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a non-profit organization that works to preserve the individual rights and liberties of US citizens based on the constitution. As per their website,
"The ACLU has been our nation's guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country."
During Amber Heard's divorce settlement with Johnny Depp, she pledged to have donated the entirety of the sum she received to the ACLU. However, on Thursday, April 28, ACLU general counsel and COO Terence Dougherty revealed that the 36-year-old actress promised to pay $3.5 million over ten years. However, the ten-year period was insinuated by Elon Musk, who was dating Heard at the time, and not confirmed by the actress herself.
What is known about Terence Dougherty? Exploring his claims about Amber Heard's payments
Terence Dougherty currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and General Counsel of the ACLU. As per his profile on the organization's website, Dougherty "oversees the directors of the national ACLU's Finance, In-House Legal, Product Technology, Information Technology, Business Operations, Security, Facilities and Human Resources units, and co-oversees the director of the Analytics unit."
As per the website, Dougherty has over a decade of valuable experience through his work in non-profit organizations.
Dougherty disclosed that Heard could not pay most of her $3.5 million promised payment in these three years. As of December 2, 2021 (the date of the COO's deposition recording), Heard only paid around $350,000 herself. He said that they had reached out to the actress in 2019 when they "learned that she was having financial difficulties."
According to Terence Dougherty's statement, Johnny Depp paid around $100,000 to the ACLU as part of his payment to Heard for the divorce settlement. Furthermore, Tesla CEO and Heard's former partner Elon Musk, who was associated with a "donor-advised fund," paid around $850,000 on behalf of Heard. As per emails, the billionaire made two payments of $500,000 and $350,000 respectively.
Therefore, the ACLU has received a total of $1.2 million of Heard's pledged amount until now.
