The allegations made in new court filings are the latest barb in a bitter legal battle between the former Hollywood power couple as Brad Pitt accused Angelina Jolie of selling their vineyard, Chateau Miraval.
Brad Pitt claims that his former wife Angelina Jolie sold her share in their wine company to a competitor investor on purpose in order to “inflict harm” on him. Brad Pitt claims that Angelina Jolie sold her stake in the company to a Luxembourg-based spirits producer run by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler without informing him.
Why Brad Pitt Accused Angelina Jolie?
In February, the 58-year-old actor filed a lawsuit against Jolie, 47, alleging that she illegally sold her shares in a winery they bought together in 2008.
The former Hollywood power couple, who had six children, bought a majority stake in the winery and residence Château Miraval in the South of France at the time.
Pitt claims that he and his former wife Angelina Jolie promised not to sell their holdings without his permission.
According to legal documents from the Associated Press, Jolie sold her stake in the company to a Luxembourg-based spirits maker run by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler without informing Pitt.
Pitt filed additional legal paperwork in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, alleging that Jolie sold her shares in the wine company to ” inflict harm” on him. He claimed that her decision to sell her stake to a Russian tycoon compelled him to form a business alliance with “a stranger with poisonous associations and intents.”
Who is Yuri Shefler, who bought the vineyard shares?
Shefler is the owner of the Stoli Group, a company situated in Luxembourg.
Stolichnaya vodka is the most well-known product of the corporation. Shefler also owns the rum company Louisiana Spirits Company in the United States, the tequila company Fabrica de Tequilas Finos in Mexico, and the Argentine winemaker Achaval Ferrer.
Shefler founded the SPI Group after graduating from the Plekhanov Russian Economic University.
SPI sells alcohol in 170 countries with 380 different brands. The conglomerate also owns 5,600 hectares of agricultural land and develops real estate developments. Tenute del Mondo Group is the company’s wine estate branch founded in 2007.
‘False narrative’
According to a person close to the matter, Brad Pitt’s recent court petition in his ongoing legal dispute with Angelina Jolie over the sale of Château Miraval sends out a “false narrative” and “the truth of the case is not there.”
According to an AFP source close with the matter, Jolie chose to sell since she and her children “had not been able to return” to Chateau Miraval.
However, according to a source close to Brad Pitt, “This is absurd. One of their parents would have kept ownership of an increasingly valuable item. Brad Pitt had the option to buy Angelina out. A family that owns 100 per cent of a property is worth a lot more than one that owns 40 to 50 per cent.
Pitt’s lawyers claim that the vineyard became his “passion” project, growing “into a multimillion-dollar global corporation and one of the world’s most highly acclaimed manufacturers of rosé wine” as a result of his endeavours.