Angelina Jolie is suing Brad Pitt for selling her stake of the French property where they wedded. Pitt and Jolie, once Hollywood's most famous couple, purchased a controlling interest in Chateau Miraval in southern France in 2008 and married there six years later. However, they filed for divorce in 2016 and have been embroiled in legal fights ever since, notably over custody of their six children. The couple "agreed they would never sell their respective stakes in Miraval without the other's approval," according to a lawsuit filed by Pitt in California on Thursday. However, according to a legal document obtained by AFP, Jolie sold her stake to a "Luxembourg-based spirits firm run by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler" last October. Jolie is attempting to "recover unearned windfall profits for herself while inflicting gratuitous harm on Pitt," according to Pitt's filing. Jolie allegedly broke the terms of their original agreement by not offering him first refusal for her share, and she is seeking to "recover unearned windfall profits for herself while inflicting gratuitous harm on Pitt." "Jolie stopped contributing to Miraval a long time ago," it says, "while Pitt poured money and sweat equity into the wine industry, developing it into the ascendant enterprise it is today."
Pitt's lawsuit asks for a jury trial.
Prior to the couple's purchase in 2008, the vineyard was described as a "small, unprofitable wine business" that was "in need of restoration." Pitt contributed 60% and Jolie the remaining 40% of the total payment of "about 25 million euros ($28 million)," with Pitt giving 60% and Jolie the remaining 40%. The suit claims that Pitt went on to pay for upgrades "far in excess of his proportional ownership share" on the premise that Jolie would not drop out of the transaction without his agreement. Pitt hired one of France's finest winemakers, Marc Perrin, to help turn the company into a prominent rose wine producer, but "Jolie had little role in these efforts," according to the report. Miraval recently launched a new line of rose sparkling wine, which reportedly increased revenue from around $3 million in 2013 to more than $50 million last year. Jolie "is seeking a return on an investment she did not make and earnings she did not earn," a source familiar with the issue told AFP. Pitt's lawsuit had not yet been served on Jolie, and her counsel were "learning about the complaint from the media," according to Jolie's lawyer. "I understand Mr. Pitt is aware that Ms. Jolie is on a long-haul commercial international trip with their children, out of reach and unable to respond," Robert Olson said in an AFP statement. "We opted to invest in Miraval because it is a great wine and brand that compliments our portfolio," Tenute del Mondo, the beverages business that purchased Jolie's part, said in a statement. "We entered this relationship with the goal of bringing expertise, capabilities, and distribution channels that would only strengthen the Miraval offering and help Miraval become the most successful rose wine and champagne brand in the world," the business noted.
Pitt and Jolie originally became a pair after co-starring in the 2004 film "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" as married assassins. At the time, Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston. Pitt, now 58, was accused of hitting one of his children on a journey from France to Los Angeles soon before Jolie filed for divorce, but the FBI and social workers cleared him afterwards. In 2018, the couple revealed that they had achieved an amicable agreement regarding the children, who are three biological and three adoptive. However, Jolie won their custody battle in July when the private judge overseeing their divorce and custody proceedings was disqualified from the case. A California appeals court decided Judge John Ouderkirk, who had also conducted their wedding at the vineyard, had benefited financially from separate work with Pitt's attorneys, and he was disqualified from the case. As a result of the verdict, the custody case had to be retried in front of a new judge.
