GoFundMe is shutting down fake campaigns in relation to the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial.
This past week, the website put a stop to a fundraiser that claimed it would be assisting with Heard’s legal fees following the verdict in her defamation suit with Depp. The fundraiser, which was started by a woman named Kimberly Moore who claimed she was in touch with the actress’ legal team, had a goal of $1 million and reads that “the judgment exceeds her net worth,” as she was ordered to pay Depp $8.35 million.
A GoFundMe spokesperson has told TMZ that the page was determined to not be from Amber herself or anybody on her legal team, so it was flagged and shut down.
This past week, a jury ruled in favor of Depp, believing that the actor proved elements of defamation and that Heard “acted with actual malice.” His total damages equal about $10.35 million, and Heard was awarded $2 million in damages on one count. The suit was over a Washington Post op-ed in which Heard spoke on having become “a public figure representing domestic abuse” two years earlier. While Heard revealed she was a victim of domestic abuse, Depp’s name was not mentioned in the piece.
“I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband,” Heard’s statement reads. “I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously. I believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK.”
Depp, in his own statement, wrote that he hopes “that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up.”
