An old case has returned to haunt Amber Heard, with the actress being investigated for allegedly committing perjury in the infamous dog smuggling incident.
Back in 2015, Heard was charged with bringing her then-husband Johnny Depp‘s two Yorkshire terriers into Australia illegally. Heard didn’t obtain a permit for them before arriving in the country on a private jet and also didn’t have them quarantine for two weeks.
She faced the daunting prospect of a maximum 10-year prison term but Heard instead pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of falsifying a travel document to get the dogs into the country.
Although the case was closed then – she was let off with a one-month $1,000 good behaviour bond in 2016 – it’s now seemingly back to trouble Heard. As The Daily Mail reports, a spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment confirmed that they’re “investigating allegations of perjury by Ms. Heard during court proceedings for the 2015 illegal importation of (her) two dogs into Australia.”
The allegations stem from Depp’s libel lawsuit that took place in 2020. One of the actor’s associates testified that Heard had allegedly asked the actor to lie under oath for her after her charge for illegally importing his dogs into Australia. His former estate manager Kevin Murphy alleges that Heard wanted him to claim she didn’t know she couldn’t bring the dogs into the country.
“She wanted me to say essentially that it was my fault in one way or another that the paperwork wasn’t completed, so that I could take the blame for her,” he said.
Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment – backed by the FBI – are now pursuing the potential perjury. If she’s charged with perjury or subornation of perjury (inducing someone to provide false testimony), Heard could be looking at a maximum of 14-years in prison.
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