Johnny Depp has achieved a rare win in his pursuit of the truth about his ex-wife Amber Heard’s pledged contribution of her $7 million (£5 million) divorce settlement.

A New York judge has ordered the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to submit documents confirming whether or whether the Aquaman actress donated to the non-profit organization as part of her divorce settlement from the Rum Diary actor, as well as the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

“Mr. Depp is most gratified by the Court’s decision,” Depp’s attorney Benjamin Chew told USA TODAY.

In November, Depp lost a libel case in London against the publisher of The Sun tabloid, which had labeled him a “wife beater” in a 2018 headline after Heard accused him of violence in Los Angeles in 2016 as their brief, tumultuous marriage was coming to an end. Depp was up against a prominent tabloid and its editor in the lawsuit, with Heard serving as their star witness.

Depp had filed a defamation suit against The Sun after they labeled him a wife-beater who had abused then-wife Heard, but a court decided in favor of the British tabloid last November, and his defamation claim was dismissed.

Heard said in a statement dated February 26th, “I remained financially independent from him [Depp] the whole time we were together and the entire amount of my divorce settlement was donated to charity.”

According to Depp’s lawyer, Andrew Caldecott, the promised donation was a “calculated and manipulative lie” that “tipped the scales against Mr Depp from the beginning.”

He further claimed that in 2019, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles wrote to Depp’s business adviser to notify them that Heard had not made any payments.

In March of this year, the former Pirates of the Caribbean actor was denied the opportunity to appeal his unsuccessful libel case.

Lawyers for The Sun’s publisher rejected the claims in court in March, claiming that Heard did not lie about the donations since she agreed to pay the sums over a 10-year period. According to Adam Wolanski, who represents News Group Newspapers, she has made “a number of payments already in pursuance of these pledges.”

The High Court decision came after a three-week circus-style trial in July, during which Depp and Heard testified and were both damaged by graphic allegations of drinking, drug usage, fighting, and room trashing. The court concluded that “the great majority” of Heard’s abuse accusations, as provided by the tabloid’s publisher in its defense, were mainly accurate.

Peter Safran, the producer of the Aquaman sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, recently came out in reaction to a petition started by Depp’s supporters requesting that Heard be removed from the film.

The petition, which received over a million signatures, accused Heard of waging a “systematic crusade to ruin Depp in Hollywood.”

“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure,” said Safran. “You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was.”

He added: “One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes. You have to do what’s right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it.”

The High Court informed Depp, who has consistently denied claims that he assaulted his ex-wife, that he could not file an appeal, despite his attorneys stating that they had “fresh evidence” concerning the Danish Girl actress.

The initial hearing was “full and fair,” according to the Court of Appeal, and the trial judge, Justice Andrew Nicol, provided “thorough reasons for his conclusions.”

Lord Justice Underhill, announcing the decision at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, stated, “It is not easy to persuade this court to overturn the findings of a trial judge on purely factual questions.