GoFundMe has wasted no time shutting down phony pages after the highly publicized Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial.
The website recently removed a fake $1 million fundraiser campaign claiming to raise money to help Heard pay some of the damages she owes to her former husband.
Here is everything you need to know.
Fundraisers claim to raise money to help Amber Heard pay the money back to Johnny Depp
A seven people panel announced their verdict on 1st June regarding the sensationalized trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
The jurors unanimously voted in favor of Depp and awarded him $10 million in damages.
At the same time, Heard was also awarded $2 million in damages for one defamatory remark made by Depp’s former attorney.
So now, Heard owes in total a sum of $8.35 million to the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.
In the wake of the decision, a fundraiser created by Kimberly Moore titled ‘Justice for Amber Heard’ was set up on the GoFundMe website.
Moore mentioned that she had made contact with Heard’s team and promised that the Aquaman actress would have direct access to the money raised.
The page description goes as ‘I believe Amber and social media protected the abuser. The judgment exceeds her net worth. It’s so sad that he was able to get away with the abuse. The judgment furthers that abuse. If you can please help her. She will have direct access to the money. I also contacted her attorney so they can loop her in.’
GoFundMe removes fake pages following the Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard defamation case
The above-mentioned page however was confirmed to be a fake one.
It remains unclear for how long the page was live or how much money it managed to raise.
However, a spokesperson for GoFundMe revealed that they were able to shut down the page quickly before a large amount could be raised.
It was further mentioned that they flagged down the fundraising page after determining that neither Amber Heard nor her legal team had created it.
The platform added that they will maintain to look for such types of pages and act accordingly.
Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft has said that the actress could not afford to pay the amount of the judgment but she would not create a GoFundMe page for it.
Bredehoft has further claimed that they would appeal the jury’s verdict.