Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Castel Franck/ABACA/Shutterstock; Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie‘s authorized battle over French vineyard Château Miraval continues to be ongoing — and getting even messier.
Pitt, 59, was accused of “looting” and “stripping” Château Miraval’s belongings in an effort to take over the property, in keeping with court docket paperwork obtained by CNN on Monday, July 10. In a brand new criticism filed by Jolie’s former funding agency Nouvel — which holds her 50 p.c stake within the firm — Pitt was known as out for a “so-far-successful plan” to “seize” majority management of the vineyard.
Nouvel reportedly claimed that Pitt froze them out and has wasted the corporate’s cash with “tens of millions on self-importance tasks, together with greater than $1 million on swimming pool renovations, constructing and rebuilding a staircase 4 instances, and spending tens of millions to revive a recording studio.”
In response to attorneys representing the agency, Pitt’s “misconduct” obtained worse after Jolie, 48, offered her share in October 2021. “Incensed that Jolie offered Nouvel to Stoli relatively than him, Pitt has acted like a petulant youngster, refusing to deal with Nouvel as an equal accomplice within the enterprise,” the authorized paperwork learn.
In response to the drama, a supply near the litigation solely instructed Us Weekly that the “looter” claims in opposition to Pitt are “absurd” following his historical past with the vineyard. “It’s public information that Brad has poured tens of millions extra into this enterprise, constructing it from the bottom up during the last decade,” the insider mentioned.
In February 2022, Pitt filed a lawsuit claiming Jolie illegally offered her shares after they beforehand agreed solely to take action with one another’s approval. In court docket paperwork obtained by Us final month, Pitt accused Jolie of “vindictively” giving up her share since he was by no means given the possibility to match or outbid her provide.
The previous couple known as it quits in 2016 after two years of marriage. Shortly earlier than their cut up, the actors made headlines when Pitt was the topic of a kid abuse investigation because of an alleged incident on the household’s jet. He was later cleared by the Los Angeles County Division of Youngsters and Household Providers.
Pitt and Jolie, nonetheless, have continued to be wrapped up in authorized disputes over their French winery in addition to an ongoing battle for custody of their minor kids. (The pair, who had been declared legally single in April 2019, share six children: Maddox, 21, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 14.)
Legal professional Neama Rahmani — who is just not affiliated with both social gathering — solely instructed Us in June that the authorized backwards and forwards will probably proceed for some time. “There’s so many allegations,” he mentioned. “You’ve obtained household legislation, you’ve obtained custody, there’s allegations of abuse, and clearly, you have got a really invaluable chateau that the 2 are preventing over.”
Rahmani added: “What Brad is arguing right here is there was an settlement — it looks as if it’s the handwritten, again of the serviette kind settlement — the place Angelina mentioned ‘I wouldn’t do it.’ But in addition, what he’s arguing right here is, effectively, even when Angelina may promote to a 3rd social gathering, he had a proper of first refusal. He may match any provide, and Angelina didn’t give him the chance to take action.”
In response to the lawyer, Pitt’s best end result could be to get “your entire chateau to himself” or to have an opportunity to purchase his ex-wife out. A small victory could be to obtain cash from Jolie in damages.