At the center of Johnny Depp’s legal battle? His quest to hold onto his LA home

Actor Johnny Depp is still searching for his chest of pirate’s booty.

A preliminary hearing in the legal battle against his former management company Monday revealed the drama kicked into high gear when one of Depp’s most prized possessions was seized from him — one of his Los Angeles homes.

The property was used as collateral for a $5 million loan in 2012, according to his former managers, brothers Joel and Robert Mandel of Beverly Hills firm the Management Group. TMG gave Depp the loan after he failed to pay off a separate loan from City National Bank, Bloomberg reported.

Foreclosure proceedings on the estate began last year. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor asked the court to stop the proceedings in a lawsuit filed against TMG earlier this year. He’s also seeking $25 million in damages for negligence and mismanagement.

During the hearing, Depp’s lawyers persuaded a state judge to narrow TMG’s counterclaims that the actor is to blame for his own financial woes. The group alleged the actor ignored warnings that his $2-million-a-month lifestyle, including $30,000 for wine, wasn’t sustainable. They also alleged Depp spent $75 million on 14 houses and $18 million on a 150-foot yacht.

Michael Krump, an attorney representing the Management Group, said it plans to re-file its complaint.

The address of the home Depp is fighting to keep is not known. The actor owns five homes in the Hollywood Hills, worth an estimated $19 million. He has sold two of his five penthouse lofts in the Eastern Columbia Building in downtown Los Angeles for $5.6 million with the remaining three worth about $6.5 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. [Bloomberg] – Subrina Hudson