Robert De Niro said, in the court, that the coronavirus pandemic has caused a massive financial blow to his finances, amid his estranged wife asking for an emergency order to increase the monthly credit limit of her American Express card from $50,000 to $100,000.
The Greetings actor appeared via a Skype call in his Manhattan divorce case with Grace Hightower as his wife's lawyer complained to a judge that De Niro unjustly cut her monthly Am-Ex allowance from $100,000 to $50,000. Moreover, the lawyer said that she and her children are not allowed to visit an upstate compound where the actor is holed up during the pandemic.
De Niro's lawyer said that the actor had to cut his ex-wife's credit card limit citing a massive financial hit as the restaurant chain Nobu and Greenwich Hotel, in which he has stakes. The lawyer said these restaurants have either remained fully or partially closed for months with hardly any business.
De Niro's Nobu chain has taken about 14 loans from the Trump administration's PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) for small businesses affected by the pandemic, CNBC reported. The actor's asset in it is approximated at $500 million.
Lawyer for De Niro, Caroline Krauss told the judge that in April, Nobu lost $3 million and another $1.87 million in the following month. To make things worse, De Niro had to shell out $500,000 to pay investors on a capital call, which he took money from his business partners to make as he doesn't have the cash, Krauss explained.
Krauss pointed out to the terms of De Niro and her ex-wife's 2004 prenuptial agreement, which requires the actor to pay Hightower $1 million every year as long as he is making $15 million or more in income, which, if declines, will affect the amount he pays her.
Describing the best case, if things return to normal this year, the actor's accounts and the business manager says De Niro will be lucky if he manages to make even $7.5 million this year. Krauss also revealed that earnings from Netflix’s The Irishman have nearly been paid out, and he is expected to receive $2.5 million in 2020 and 2021, Page Six reported.
Aside from that, a movie project that he was slated to start filming this summer in Oklahoma has been put on hold, according to De Niro's lawyer. Noting that the Mean Streets star has begun restricting his expenses, Krauss said it is not feasible for the 76-year-old robust man to retire even if he wanted to due to his lavish lifestyle.