Tuesday 5 July 2022 11:30 PM Amber Heard: FBI 'assists Australian authorities' in allegations of perjury ... trends now
The FBI is reportedly assisting Australian authorities as they investigate allegations Amber Heard possibly perjured herself in a Queensland court six years ago.
The 36-year-old actress, who last month lost a high-profile defamation trial against her ex-husband Johnny Depp, is the subject of an ongoing perjury investigation related to court proceedings stemming from her visit to Queensland with Depp in 2015, when she broke Australia's strict quarantine and biosecurity laws by failing to declare the couple's Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, upon her arrival in the country.
Heard was charged with two counts of illegally importing the animals in July 2015; however, the case was closed when she pleaded guilty to falsifying travel documents in a Gold Coast court in April 2016.
But the actress's dog-smuggling saga was given new life in October 2021, when it was exclusively revealed by DailyMail.com that Australian officials were investigating Heard for perjury over claims she lied to authorities about the circumstances in which her dogs were brought into the country.
The Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment last week confirmed the case was 'ongoing', telling Daily Mail Australia it was still 'investigating allegations of perjury by Ms. Heard during court proceedings for the 2015 illegal importation of [her] two dogs into Australia'.
The FBI is reportedly assisting Australian authorities as they investigate allegations Amber Heard (pictured with her ex-husband Johnny Depp in Toronto, Canada, on September 14, 2015) possibly perjured herself in a Queensland court six years ago
Heard faced two counts of knowingly importing a prohibited product into the country in 2015. (Pictured: the Yorkshire terriers at the centre of the incident, Pistol and Boo)
Perjury carries a maximum jail term of 14 years while the latter offence can result in a seven-year stretch under the Queensland penal code.
It's unlikely the Australian government would try to have Heard extradited, but she could nonetheless face arrest if she tried to enter the country again.
All of the witnesses involved in the case 'live overseas'.
Bobby Chacon, a retired FBI Special Agent and attorney, told Law & Crime: 'The FBI maintains an office in Canberra and there are FBI Agents permanently assigned to Australia [on a rotating basis].
'Part of their mission is liaison and assistance, so if the Australians needed something from here in the U.S. they would certainly contact the FBI's Australia Office and the FBI would likely assist.'
The department's perjury investigation stems from testimony given by a former employee of Depp's during his UK libel case against The Sun newspaper in 2020.
Depp's former estate manager Kevin Murphy raised eyebrows Down Under when he told the London court that Heard had ordered him to lie on oath after she flew the pets into Queensland in a private jet without declaring them.
Pistol and Boo should have been declared to customs and placed in 10-day quarantine but their arrival went undetected for several weeks until a grooming salon posted snaps of the cuddly pair to Facebook.
Depp and Heard were given 72-hours to send the dogs home or face having them seized and euthanized.
Heard eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of falsifying an immigration document and
