Legal filing against Brad Pitt over chateau bought with Angelina Jolie
EXCLUSIVE – Extraordinary full legal dossier against Brad Pitt lays bare bitter $350m battle over French chateau he bought with Angelina Jolie – from vineyard fight to ‘gaslighting’ and claims he refused to stop working with Harvey Weinstein
The world sighed over Brad Pitt’s beauty when he stepped out in racing overalls at Silverstone last weekend. How could this man, approaching his 60th birthday, still look like the golden god who charmed Geena Davis into bed in Thelma and Louise way back in 1991?
But in an extraordinary 98 page legal filing – obtained exclusively by the Daily Mail – quite a different picture is painted of the A-list star.
And this depiction of William Bradley Pitt is not pretty at all.
Pitt, 59, is described in the court filing as a ‘bully’ who has acted emotionally, irrationally and ‘ultimately illegally’ over the vineyard where he and Angelina Jolie were married.
He’s said to have run a long obstructionist campaign to prevent his ex wife Angelina Jolie, and her former investment company Nouvel, from profits and a say in the running of their wine business based at their former French hideaway, Chateau Miraval.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at a Cannes film premiere in 2007, when they were still married
Chateau Miraval – which is now valued at $164million – is where the couple tied the knot in 2014
It is tempting to describe this dispute – centring as it does on a vineyard – as sour grapes. But the harvest is far too bitter for that.
For the incendiary document – which aims to get ‘at least’ $350million from Pitt by way of compensation over a dispute – is dotted with personal details about the man and his marriage.
It isn’t – quite – a character assassination, but what is said by lawyers acting for Nouvel, the company formerly owned by Jolie – is deeply damaging. Nouvel was founded by Jolie but sold to a subsidiary of Stoli Group in October 2021.
It is said by lawyers for Nouvel that Jolie had to sell the business because after the drunken row on a private plane which ended their marriage in 2016, she was ‘uncomfortable’ being involved in the sale of alcohol.
The filing alleges that their six children were so traumatised by that incident on the plane – described in full, riveting detail – that they have not been able to go back to Chateau Miraval since.
The documents allege that Pitt has run a ‘gaslighting’ campaign which suggests that the image of the brand was damaged by its association with Yuri Shefler of Stoli, who bought Jolie’s share.
In point of fact, say Nouvel’s lawyers, the risk of damage to the brand comes from Pitt’s own tarnished image. Pitt is bluntly invited to ‘look in the mirror.’
The spectre of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein – in prison for rape and sexual misconduct – is invoked.
Even his attempts to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, by building houses, are derided.
Pitt stands accused of using a deal with Jolie over the asset as ‘leverage’ by offering her ‘poison pill’ terms in a tit for tat after she filed allegations of domestic abuse during their custody battle.
Its also said in the filing that the Chateau Miraval company made no repayment of $40 million of loans and that Jolie sought to sell the company in order to ‘achieve liquidity’ – an astonishing assertion given her long and successful career in Hollywood.
Pitt at Chateau Miraval during a launch of his skincare line, Le Domaine
Meanwhile, it is alleged that Pitt has used the company as his ‘personal cashbox’ and squandered millions on ‘vanity projects.’ Over €1million Euro was spent on a swimming pool, and a further €1million a year was spent on a team of Croatian stone-masons who worked on walls at the property.
The document claims: ‘Lately, Pitt has shifted his public relations campaign, claiming that Shefler and the Stoli Group are trying to evict him from his ”family home” and eject him from the business that he ”built”. Talk about fantasy.
‘This is a fight about money and corporate control, not a fight over a family home. Pitt seeks to exert total and absolute control over Chateau Miraval and its profitable wine business, ignoring that, legally, he co-owns it with Tenute del Monde. The chateau is no one’s ”home”.
Pitt is not a French citizen who keeps the chateau as his domicile. And the notion that Chateau Miraval was the Pitt-Jolie family home died back in 2016 when Pitt terrorized his wife and children in a drunken rage while en route from the chateau to Pitt’s true home – Hollywood.
‘Equally ludicrous is the idea that the Stoli Group is trying to take away a business that Pitt ”built”. Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker.
‘He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes. During the years that he allegedly ”built” the business, he filmed and appeared in dozens of movies, not to mention making countless promotional appearances, jetting-setting around the world for movie premieres, and attending Hollywood parties.
‘While he no doubt visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French laborers who actually made the business successful, Pitt is no vigneron.’
HAPPY DAYS BEFORE THE STORM
The story begins in 2008 when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie purchased Chateau Miraval, a 1300-acre country estate in the south of France.
It was a complex transaction. The property was owned by the French company, Chateau Miraval, which was in turn wholly owned by the company Quimicum, based in Luxembourg.
Pitt and Jolie purchased all the shares of Quimicum for €25million, thereby also acquiring Chateau Miraval.
The purchase was made through their respective investment holding companies. Pitt’s is called Mondo Bongo, after a song from the soundtrack of the film Mr & Mrs Smith where the couple first met. Jolie’s was called Nouvel, the middle name of her daughter Shiloh.
The actor inspects vines at the vineyard after its rose won an award
According to the filing, Mondo Bongo purchased 60% of Quimicum’s shares, and Nouvel purchased 40% of Quimicum’s shares but ‘the couple always intended that Pitt and Jolie would be equal owners.’
In 2013, Pitt caused Mondo Bongo to transfer 10 per cent of the Quimicum shares to Nouvel, making them ‘equal 50-50 owners.’
The filing claims that at this point: ‘To improve the quality of its winemaking, Chateau Miraval entered into a business relationship with Familles Perrin in March 2013. Familles Perrin is owned and run by one of France’s most successful winemaking families.’
‘Under the Miraval Provence business agreement, Chateau Miraval cultivated the estate’s vineyard, harvested its grapes, and produced wine, while Familles Perrin provided winemaking technical assistance and aged, bottled, and sold the wine. Pitt and Jolie loaned their Hollywood star-power to support the wine’s marketing efforts.’
The document goes on to claim that: ‘Although Pitt was happy to lend his talent for image-management and self promotion to the marketing side of the business, he is not, and has never been, a winemaker. Contrary to the image he projects in the press, to no one’s surprise, Pitt does not spend his time toiling in the vineyards.
‘Instead, while he is off making blockbuster movies, Perrin and others have assumed the day-to-day responsibility of actually making Miraval’s wine.’
The wine business was a success, with Chateau Miraval Rose being ranked the best in the world by Wine Spectator magazine. Profits grew from around €1million in 2013 to around €15million in 2022.
The filing says: ‘Amidst the initial success of their investment, Pitt and Jolie married at Chateau Miraval on August 23, 2014, surrounded by a small group of friends and family.
‘By agreement between them as a couple and later as wife and husband, Jolie continued her humanitarian work, took care of their children, and was entrusted with pursing the couple’s extensive philanthropic work worldwide, including for the Jolie-Pitt foundation, while oversight of the couple’s investment in Chateau Miraval was left in the hands of Pitt.’
Both Jolie and Pitt invested millions of dollars in the business. Nouvel, Jolie’s former investment company, says it loaned at least $40million in total but had not a cent repaid.
THE MARRIAGE FALLS APART.
The court filing claims: ‘But all was not well. Pitt developed a publicly acknowledged alcohol abuse problem. In 2016, after a serious and internationally publicized incident between Pitt, Jolie, and the couple’s children on a plane trip from France to California, Jolie filed for divorce.’
The legal filing continues by alleging: ‘Over the years, Pitt developed an addiction to alcohol, which resulted in increasingly destructive behavior towards Jolie and the rest of their family.
‘Things came to a head on a private plane trip from France to the United States on September 14, 2016. As has been widely reported and documented in recently released FBI records and confirmed by Jolie in these proceedings, during the flight, Pitt, who reportedly consumed multiple alcoholic beverages, took Jolie to the bathroom.
Pitt and Jolie in Kensington, West London, in 2014, two years before their divorce
‘As they argued, Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head, shaking her, and pushed her into the bathroom wall. Pitt also punched the ceiling of the plane four times and told her, ‘You’re f******g up this family’.
‘As noted in the FBI investigative report, when their children asked, ”Are you OK, Mommy?”, Pitt replied ”No, she’s not OK. She’s ruining this family. She’s crazy”. And when one of their children confronted Pitt, Pitt lunged at the child.
‘Jolie held Pitt back, but in the process suffered injuries to her back and elbows. Over the remainder of the flight, Pitt continued to rant, and poured beer on Jolie and the children as they tried to sleep.
‘When the flight landed and Jolie told Pitt that she was taking the kids to a hotel to rest, Pitt refused to let the family leave the plane for 20 minutes, yelled ”You’re not taking my f*****g kids”, and pushed Jolie. Five days later, Jolie filed for divorce.’
The FBI investigated but did not pursue the matter and the Los Angeles county department of children and family services also cleared him over the incident. He has always denied any physical element to the argument.
HOSTILITIES OPEN OVER THE VINEYARD
The filing alleges: ‘In retaliation for the divorce and custody proceedings, Pitt embarked on a multi faceted, years-long campaign to seize control of Chateau Miraval and appropriate the company’s assets for his benefit and that of his own companies and friends.
‘It did not matter to Pitt that his rights as a 50% owner were co-equal to those of Jolie. Pitt credited himself for the wine’s success and viewed control of Chateau Miraval as his personal entitlement.
‘Appointing himself the rightful owner of Chateau Miraval, his twin objectives were to usurp the value of Jolie’s company, Nouvel, and to obtain sole control over Chateau Miraval and its profitable wine business.’
It goes on to claim: ‘He stopped consulting with Jolie on any aspect of Chateau Miraval and withheld important information about the business and its investment decisions from her. This gave him absolute de facto control of the property, and he took full advantage of it.
Pitt, 59, is described as a ‘bully’ who has acted emotionally, irrationally and ‘ultimately illegally’ over the vineyard
The documents allege that Pitt has run a ‘gaslighting’ campaign which suggests that the image of the brand was damaged by its association with Yuri Shefler of Stoli, who bought Jolie’s share
‘As the divorce proceedings progressed, however, Jolie began to turn more of her attention to the business aspects of Chateau Miraval, as she was no longer comfortable leaving the management and supervision of her largest investment primarily in the hands of Pitt.
‘Moreover, Chateau Miraval had never distributed any of the business’ profits to its shareholders and was expending large sums of money on projects that did not appear to have a legitimate business purpose.
‘Jolie began to insist on receiving information about Chateau Miraval’s finances and began exercising a greater degree of supervision over its business.’
There were allegedly concerns over the trademarks of the brands which the court filing claims are now among its most valuable assets. Nouvel’s lawyers also claim that Familles Perrin were charging ‘three times’ the standard bottling rate and thus ‘gouging’ the company.
The filing claims that Pitt ‘improperly blocked’ Jolie from receiving information about the company and also ensured that there was no functioning board of directors at the company Quimicum, which meant that there was no oversight of the Chateau Miraval company.
The filing alleges: ‘Chateau Miraval’s wine business generates tens of millions of dollars in profits. But Pitt ensured that Jolie and Nouvel would never see a dime of that money. Instead, Pitt… improperly diverted millions in dividends paid to Chateau Miraval from the Miraval Provence wine business to Pitt’s personal projects that lacked any legitimate business purpose, including spending over a million euros of the business’ funds on a swimming pool, nearly a million euros a year constantly rebuilding stone walls using stone masons from Croatia, close to three million euros on ‘garment work’, and more money to build and rebuild a staircase— four times. ‘
JOLIE AND PITT ALMOST NEGOTIATE A SALE
The filing notes: ‘Jolie was already increasingly uncomfortable participating in an alcohol business. In addition, given the events that led to her filing for divorce, neither she nor any of the children felt able to return to the chateau. Combined with Pitt’s actions confirming that he had no intention of sharing control of Chateau Miraval with her, Jolie decided to sell Nouvel.
‘Jolie was not obligated to sell Nouvel to Pitt. She nevertheless offered to sell her interest to him and negotiated with him for months. Nearing a deal, Pitt’s hubris got the better of him: he made an eleventh-hour demand for onerous and irrelevant conditions, including a provision designed to prohibit Jolie from publicly speaking about the events that had led to the breakdown of their marriage. Pitt knew that much of Jolie’s wealth and liquidity were tied up in Nouvel and used that fact to try to force Jolie to agree to his unreasonable terms.
‘Luckily for Jolie, other companies were interested in acquiring Nouvel and its interest in Chateau Miraval. In October 2021—after Pitt ignored Jolie’s final offer to sell her interest in the winery on the same terms Pitt had proposed but without the hush clause—she sold Nouvel to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group, an international wine and spirits company. ‘
Pitt gives the thumbs up to wellwishers during the British Grand Prix on July 1
PITT AND STOLI AT WAR
Hostilities, though, continued between Pitt and Jolie’s former company. The filing alleges: ‘Unwilling to share control, Pitt refused to work with either Stoli or Nouvel as an equal partner. Stoli was shocked: It made no sense for Pitt to reject an experienced alcohol company with a worldwide distribution network. It became apparent that Pitt was not acting rationally, a development that Stoli had not expected.
‘Despite Pitt’s obviously emotional reaction—fueled at least in part by his animosity toward Jolie—Stoli and Nouvel made several proposals to allow the parties to work together, including offering to resolve the shareholder deadlock at Quimicum and to return normal governance to both Quimicum and Chateau Miraval. Pitt rejected all of Stoli’s overtures. He sent lawyers to business meetings who read messages from scripts and refused to engage in any discussion about the business. ‘
Instead, there have been assertions in legal papers about Stoli and its links with the Russian regime.
The filing claims: ‘Pitt is desperate to shift attention from his own bad behavior, including the well publicized, alcohol-fueled confrontation with Jolie and his children on a private plane flight that precipitated the end of his marriage.
‘His principal vehicle to do so has been to make assertions against Stoli that are both false and inflammatory. One of Pitt’s lies is his suggestion that Stoli Group’s owner, Shefler, is an ally of Vladimir Putin. In reality, ever since Shefler rebuilt Stoli from the ashes of its Soviet predecessor into a profitable business, he has been in open conflict with Putin and Russia.
‘Stoli has been locked in litigation with the Putin regime for decades over control of the Stolichnaya vodka trademarks. Shefler and Stoli have repeatedly and publicly denounced the Putin regime and its reprehensible invasion of Ukraine.
‘Putin’s people once even tried to kidnap Shefler. For Pitt to suggest that Shefler—who has been fighting Putin for decades—is in fact a Putin ally is truly outrageous.’
PITT’S REPUTATION SHREDDED
The filing claims: ‘Pitt is gaslighting, claiming that he is the victim in order to cover up the harm he intentionally caused to his ex-wife and to Nouvel (excluding them from the business and holding the most significant part of her net worth hostage) and the business (asset stripping and foolish spending).
‘But Pitt should look in the mirror because, according to the court filing, it is he, and not the Stoli Group, who carries baggage, some of it recent front-page news, that is detrimental to Chateau Miraval’s business. Who really has to launder his reputation?’
It goes on to allege: ‘In recent years, Pitt has experienced a steady drumbeat of negative media coverage. For example, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Pitt founded the ‘Make It Right Foundation’, an effort to provide victims with homes.
‘But that initiative devolved into lawsuits and recriminations when it was revealed that the homes Pitt’s foundation built used faulty designs and materials, and now have major issues with water infiltration, mold, structural damage, and gas leaks. Only six of the 109 homes built are in reasonably good condition.
‘Pitt also worked with disgraced predator and rapist Harvey Weinstein, even though the press has reported that Jolie disclosed to Pitt that Weinstein had assaulted her in the late 1990s and had urged him not to associate with Weinstein.
‘Pitt has also publicly acknowledged being aware of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct toward Pitt’s ex-girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow. But Pitt ignored these warnings.
‘He starred in a film co-produced by Weinstein in 2009 and even asked Weinstein to produce his own movie in 2012, which Weinstein later distributed. Pitt’s close association with Weinstein added to his media woes.’
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