Brad Pitt says Angelina Jolie broke their agreement not to sell their Château Miraval interests without his permission.
Pitt has filed a lawsuit against Jolie for allegedly entering into an ‘illegal’ business deal with Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler.
According to Pitt’s complaint, the had two agreed not to sell their shares in Miraval without the other’s permission. He contends that his right of ‘first refusal’ was taken away due to the alleged sale.
As per the complaint, Jolie sold her part to a unit of Stoli Group, a spirits company controlled by oligarch Yuri Shefler.
In 2008, the Oscar-winning couple purchased a majority interest near Miraval, a resort in Correns, south-east France, halfway between Marseille and Nice. In 2014, they married there.
As per the suit, “while Pitt poured money and sweat equity into the wine industry, turning it into the ascending firm it is today, Jolie ceased contributing to Miraval a long time ago.” The lawsuit claims that “by the alleged transaction, Jolie intends to recover income she has not earned and returns on an investment she has not made.”
“If allowed to stand, Jolie’s breach will deprive Pitt of his right to enjoy his private home — having to share ownership with a stranger — and to secure his position in the business he built from the ground up for the long-term benefit of his family,” the filing says, referring to Shefler as an “aggressive third-party competitor.”
Pitt, 58, and Jolie, 46, bought Château Miraval in Correns, France, in 2008, parking their respective shares in the firms they founded before getting married: Nouvel LLC in Jolie’s case and Mondo Bongo LLC in Pitt’s case. In 2012, the A-list pair began producing their rosé wine, which was a huge hit, and they married in a chapel on the Côtes de Provence farm in August 2014.
Apart from expressing his concerns about how Tenute del Mondo is harming his capacity to run the vineyard correctly, Pitt also accused Jolie of withholding information regarding the deal from him.
In his lawsuit, the Fight Club actor asked the court to reverse the arrangement and seek damages.
The Maleficent actor, on the other hand, is yet to remark on the situation.
According to the complaint, Pitt said he put a lot of effort into making Miraval one of the world’s most well-known rosé wine producers, with yearly turnover reaching $50 million (£36.8 million).
He accused Jolie of obtaining “unearned windfall revenues” from his labour while causing “gratuitous injury.” Jolie’s lawyers did not immediately reply to demands for comment on Friday.
According to the lawsuit, Jolie told Pitt in January 2021 that she had made a “sad decision, with a heavy heart” to sell her Miraval stock because she could no longer operate an alcohol company due to personal issues. According to the complaint, Pitt and Jolie’s buyout talks fell five months later.
In October, Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of privately held Stoli, announced the purchase of Jolie’s interest.
According to the complaint, the news statement announcing Tenute del Mondo’s purchase of the vineyard stake was the first time Pitt and his lawyers had heard of the sale, and Pitt was taken aback.
For breach of contract and other legal issues, the Los Angeles superior court complaint seeks unspecified compensation and punitive damages.
Jolie and Pitt divorced in 2016, and their divorce was finalized in 2019.
The Mr. and Mrs. Smith actors were married for two years after dating for about 12 years. Their breakup, on the other hand, has been acrimonious.
Jolie said she had documentation to substantiate domestic abuse charges against Pitt after filing for divorce in 2016.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt spent a lot of quality time with their six children before and after their 2016 divorce.
The former couple began dating in 2005, three years after Maddox, the actress’s son, was adopted from Cambodia. Pitt then followed Jolie to Ethiopia in 2005 to adopt Zahara, and the following year, he formally adopted both of her children.
In 2006, the Oscar winners welcomed Shiloh together, and in 2007, they adopted Pax from Vietnam. Knox and Vivienne, Jolie’s twins, were born a year later.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith stars have been co-parenting their children since the couple divorced in September 2016.
They were also engaged in a prolonged custody fight for their children, which ended in 2021, with the court awarding them 50/50 shared custody.