Johnny Depp may have been found lying to Australia

Prepare yourselves, residents of Australia: Johnny Depp may have lied to you all.

Fresh from his latest controversy, in which he was forced to issue an apology for joking about assassinating US President Donald Trump, new allegations have emerged about an old one.

It's been more than two years since Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard became the most infamous quarantine criminals in Australian history, when they smuggled Heard's two terriers, Pistol and Boo, into the country without clearing border protection, when they arrived by private jet.

You may remember the somewhat farcical scenes in which then Agriculture Minister, now Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, threatened to have the dogs killed after their fugitive status was accidentally revealed by a Gold Coast dog groomer.

Mr Joyce gave Pistol and Boo 72 hours to "bugger off back to California" before he would have them put to sleep.

No-one was above Australian quarantine law, he opined at the time. Not even, he pointed out, a person voted sexiest man alive. Twice.

But, Depp protested, it was all a misunderstanding. He thought his people had taken care of the paperwork.

His then-wife, Heard, told a Gold Coast court as much a year later, when she appeared charged with falsifying arrival documents.

Depp came along, sitting beside her in Southport Magistrates Court, occasionally nodding off, as the Commonwealth outlined the case against her.

Heard escaped with just a fine, before she and her celebrity husband escaped the country.

The actor is embroiled in a bitter court battle with his former business managers, The Management Group, who have filed legal documents that state, he was "fully aware that he was illegally bringing his dogs to Australia" when he was in the country filming the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film in May 2015.

Maybe Barnaby was right. The two-time sexiest man alive did think he was above the law.

According to the documents, obtained by People, TMG claim, "Depp falsely claimed to authorities and in public press interviews that the incident was a big misunderstanding because he supposedly believed his staff had obtained the necessary paperwork".

After the dog groomer's Facebook post uncovered the two tiny quarantine fugitives, TMG claims he, "pressured one of his long-term employees to 'take the fall'."