Photo: Shutterstock / Denis Makarenko
The battle continues.
By Kurtis Condra — Written on Jun 09, 2022
Brad Pitt has aired out private message sent by Angelina Jolie as part of their ongoing legal battle over the former couple's French vineyard and estate.
Jolie filed for divorce on the 19th of September 2016, and their married status reverted to single on the 12th of April 2019, but the battle in court between the two rages on.
Pitt has revealed he has received private messages from Jolie's lawyers as part of their ongoing court battle.
In leaked messages, Brad Pitt alleged Angelina Jolie had attempted to sell their winery to a Russian oligarch.
Chateau Miraval S.A. was purchased back in 2008 but became a legal battleground not long after divorce proceedings began.
Years of talks were getting nowhere with the two parties so Pitt proposed a buyout but in January 2021 Jolie told Pitt that she came to a "painful decision," in the message.
In the note, Jolie said she had hoped the business would be a "family business" and that they could "grow old together" but she could no longer keep her stake in the business given her personal objections to owning an alcohol-based enterprise.
Reports allege Jolie agreed to sell the winery, or be bought out completely.
In 2021 October, Pitt claims that Jolie attempted to sell her interest to Tenute del Mondo, which is "indirectly owned and controlled" by Yuri Shefler, according to court documents.
Shefler is a Soviet-born British and Israeli billionaire businessman to which Pitt says that Jolie tried to sell her interest. Tenute del Mondo is a subsidiary of Shefler's Stoli Group.
Pitt says that the U.S. treasury department designated Shefler as an "oligarch" by the U.S. treasury department.
Pitt believes this was all done behind his back.
Pitt says that Jolie did this transaction without his consent and believes that Jolie knew Shelfer and his associates would try to undermine Pitt's investment in Miraval.
Shefler supposedly launched a "hostile takeover of the wine business destabilizing Miraval's confidential and propriety information for the benefits of his competing enterprise."
The suit claims that "they agreed they would never sell their respective interests in Miraval without the other's consent," and while they were together, Pitt and his children spent their time at Miraval in 2014.
As the years progressed, Pitt grew his passion for wine and took the vineyard under his "stewardship," growing it into a multi-million dollar global business.
Pitt's lawyer claims Jolie contributed nothing to Miraval's success.
"Instead she allowed Pitt to pour money and sweat equity into the business in reliance on the consent right she owed him and a right of first refusal her business entity owed his." Pitt's lawyer said.
Purchasing the estate in 2008 Pitt said they both agreed the place needed renovations and said that in 2013 "in the midst of preliminary renovations Angelina stopped contributing."
After their 2016 divorce Pitt wanted to ensure that Jolie held up her end of their agreement in Chateau Miraval.
The battle of Chateau Miraval continues and a source close to Jolie has responded calling the claims about the winery are "false" and that "the truth will come."
Kurtis Condra is a writer for YourTango based in San Francisco. He covers all things celebrity, news and pop culture. When he's not writing for YourTango, you will find him crafting his own poetry.