AceShowbiz - Johnny Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman has hit out at Amber Heard's legal team over its ties to disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor is the subject of a subpoena by his ex's legal team, forcing The Weinstein Company to turn over details on the star's dealings with the former Miramax boss.

The subpoena aims to seek discovery relating to Depp's ongoing $50 million (£38 million) defamation lawsuit against her, but Depp claims the move is "is overbroad and seeks the production of documents that are not properly subject to discovery".

It requests a number of documents, including all "communications between Mr. Depp and Harvey Weinstein," in addition to documents "concerning any act of violence committed by Mr. Depp during the production or promotion of 'The Libertine'" - a 2004 Weinstein-produced flick starring Depp.

However, Depp has petitioned the subpoena, and Waldman told the New York Post: "Amber Heard's #TimesUp counsel Roberta Kaplan continues her discovery abuses, bizarrely invoking the name of her former client Harvey Weinstein and a 2004 film he produced in hopes of distracting from Amber Heard's own taped confessions of violence and abuse hoaxes."

He added, "Weinstein's real association is with Roberta Kaplan herself," suggesting Kaplan and Tina Tchen, the founders of the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, "have a client list of accused abusers and hoaxers that includes Jussie Smollett, Harvey Weinstein and Amber Heard."

"Real abuse victims deserve better self-appointed leaders than these buck-chasers," he said.

The former couple is locked in a bitter legal battle against one another, with Depp suing the "Aquaman" actress after she penned an article for The Washington Post, claiming she was a victim of domestic abuse and alluding to allegations she made against Depp in their explosive 2016 divorce - which were withdrawn after they reached a settlement.

Depp has insisted it was Heard that abused him.