Angelina Jolie's former investment company is suing Brad Pitt for $250 million, alleging he secretly moved assets and devalued their joint wine company Chateau Miraval
AP
- Angelina Jolie's former investment firm is suing Brad Pitt and seeking $250 in damages.
- The complaint claims Pitt intentionally devalued their shared wine company, Chateau Miraval.
- The counter-suit against Pitt comes after Pitt sued Jolie claiming she illegally sold her shares of the company.
Angelina Jolie's former investment company is suing Brad Pitt, accusing him of devaluing the ex-former couple's joint wine company, Chateau Miraval.
The counter-suit against Pitt comes after Pitt initially sued Jolie, alleging she illegally sold her shares of Chateau Miraval to Stoli.
Jolie's former investment company, Nouvel, is seeking a jury trial and compensatory damages of at least $250 million, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles and obtained by Insider.
Nouvel is also asking a judge to order Miraval Provence, the name of the partnership between the Chateau and winemaker Familles Perrin, to transfer any of Chateau Miraval's trademarks to the Chateau, among other damages, the complaint says.
Lawyers for Nouvel allege in court documents that Pitt secretly transferred assets of the wine company in retaliation amid his and Jolie's divorce.
"In retaliation for the divorce and custody proceedings, Pitt embarked on a multifaceted, 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," lawyers for the investment firm said in court documents.
The suit accuses Pitt and all other codefendants of "encouraging" Mondo Bongo, a California-based limited liability company, to impose a shareholder deadlock on Quimicum, a company that has shared ownership over Chateau Miraval, preventing it from functioning properly, according to court documents.
"They did so intentionally and in bad faith with the express purpose of disrupting the normal performance of the Quimicum Articles so that Quimicum could not stop their plan to harm its subsidiary, Chateau Miraval, by wasting its funds and stripping assets from it," the complaint says.
The complaint alleges that Pitt conspired with Familles Perrin to "misappropriate the immense value of Chateau Miraval's trademarks" and then gave conflicting explanations for the deals.
According to the complaint, Miraval Provence is not contractually obligated to register Chateau Miraval's trademarks as its own. The complaint says that Miraval Provence "improperly registered" the Chateau's trademarks all over the world at the direction of Pitt and his friend Marc Perrin, causing "devastating financial consequences."
"By permitting Miraval Provence to register the Chateau Miraval trademarks, Pitt reduced the value of Chateau Miraval's assets by hundreds of millions of dollars," the complaint says.
Nouvel's lawyers say that at the time Jolie exited the company, Stoli — now a partial owner in Chateau Miraval — tried to work with Pitt. But, the complaint said, Pitt refused to work with either Stoli or Nouvel and made "inflammatory accusations" about the company.
Nouvel's lawyers say in court documents that Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in 2016 after Pitt developed "a publicly acknowledged alcohol abuse problem." The complaint says Jolie cited discomfort with working at an alcohol company after Pitt was dealing with alcohol abuse as a reason for exiting the business.
Lawyers for Pitt and Jolie did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.