Brad Pitt Accused of “Looting” the French Estate and Winery
An ongoing legal dispute over Château Miraval Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie formerly owned together continues to escalate.
In a new court filing obtained, Jolie’s former investment company Nouvel accuses Pitt and “co-conspirators” of attempting to retain control of Château Miraval by “stripping” and “looting” its assets. Nouvel is seeking at least $350 million in damages. They stated that Pitt spent millions of dollars on swimming pool renovations and a recording studio.
Jolie and Pitt filed for divorce in 2016. Jolie blamed Pitt for a drunken attack on her and their children during a private flight to the US. And these allegations stating that Pitt acted like a “petulant child” while engaging in a “blatant money grab” escalate the bitter legal feud between the actors.
Pitt has denied the assault allegations and blamed Jolie for attempting to damage his reputation by selling Nouvel, which holds her share of Miraval, for $64 million in 2021 “behind [his] back” to Russian-born billionaire Yuri Shefler’s Stoli Group. In previous filings, Pitt said that they had agreed “that they would sell their interests separately only with the other’s consent.” Jolie denied the claim.
The Holywood couple bought the Château Miraval for €25 million in 2008, and the launched rosé brand with renowned Rhône winemaker Marc Perrin managed to gain a profit of more than €15 million in 2022, according to the filings.
Nouvel’s lawyers claimed that Pitt had frozen Shefler’s Stoli out of managing the company when he refused to appoint neutral directors based in Luxembourg, through which the vineyard runs. Also, the actor was accused that since the divorce, he has “masterminded a so-far-successful plan to seize de facto control of Château Miraval.”
Shefler and Stoli previously were blamed by Pitt’s lawyers for attempting a “hostile takeover” of the vineyard. Pitt declares that he only “nominally” transferred 10 percent to Jolie in 2013, and he still owns 60 percent of the estate. Nouvel’s legal team said Jolie had made an effort to sell her Miraval’s share to Pitt. As he made the deal contingent on her signing a non-disparagement agreement, she did not.
Shefler’s company blamed Pitt’s team for launching a “xenophobic, untrue smear campaign worthy of Putin himself” against the Russian-born entrepreneur, who they said had been forced into exile by his criticism of the Kremlin and had stood up for LGBT+ rights. Pitt’s lawyers had previously alleged that Stoli’s ownership “threatens harm to Miraval’s carefully honed reputation and brand” due to his alleged links to Russian and Saudi Arabian state actors. Along with that, Nouvel claimed Pitt passed on half the value of Miraval’s trademarks to Perrin. And that was done without the permission of Jolie’s former holding company, which is a joint owner. Nouvel stated in court documents, that the trademarks were initially registered ahead of a potential joint venture with luxury goods group LVMH, but no such deal ever went ahead. LVMH purchased a majority stake in Château Minuty in Provence this year after purchasing a controlling interest in another local rosé winery, Château d’Esclans, in 2019.
Jolie declared that she “did none of the work necessary for Miraval’s success” but rather “stood by as Pitt invested money and sweat equity into the home and business.” In response to this, Nouvel’s lawyers said: “Jolie’s and Pitt’s endorsement is what made the Miraval brand successful — more successful than Famille Perrin’s competing rosés.” They disputed: “Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker. He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes,” answering to the information that Pitt had been deeply devoted to viticulture.