Brad Pitt accused of ‘looting’ Chateau Miraval’s assets
By Alli Rosenbloom and Chloe Melas | CNN
An ongoing legal dispute over a French estate and winery Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie formerly owned together continues to escalate.
In a new court filing obtained by CNN, Jolie’s former investment company Nouvel accuses Pitt and “co-conspirators” of attempting to retain control of Château Miraval by “stripping” and “looting” its assets. Nouvel is seeking at least $350 million in damages.
“Pitt wasted the company’s assets, spending millions on vanity projects, including more than $1 million on swimming pool renovations, building and rebuilding a staircase four times, and spending millions to restore a recording studio,” the document filed Monday states.
Attorneys for Nouvel claim in the filing that Pitt’s “misconduct” escalated after Jolie sold Nouvel in October 2021 to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group, controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler.
“Incensed that Jolie sold Nouvel to Stoli rather than him, Pitt has acted like a petulant child, refusing to treat Nouvel as an equal partner in the business,” the filing states.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Pitt for comment on Monday’s filing.
Pitt first filed a lawsuit over Jolie’s sale of the estate and winery in February 2022, calling it “unlawful” because, he claims, the two had agreed when they purchased the property that neither would sell without the other’s consent.
Jolie filed a countersuit, claiming that there was never any such agreement and that she sold her portion of the winery in an effort to have “financial independence” from Pitt and to “have some form of peace and closure to this deeply painful and traumatic chapter of her and their children’s lives.”
The former couple purchased the country estate and winery in the south of France in 2008.
In court documents last month, attorneys for Pitt called Jolie’s sale of her stake in Miraval “vindictive” after an “adverse custody ruling.”
Paul Murphy, Jolie’s attorney, responded in a statement to CNN at the time, and referenced allegations of abuse by Pitt during a 2016 plane flight that were part of another court filing by Jolie in the case last fall.
“Still today and in the seven years since that fateful plane ride, he personally has never publicly denied that it happened. The reality is that Pitt refused to complete the Miraval sale with Jolie unless she agreed to being silenced about the abuse,” Murphy said.
A representative for Pitt disputed details in the October filing in a statement to CNN at the time.
“Brad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for things he didn’t do,” the representative said.
Pitt was not arrested or charged in connection with the incident after the FBI completed an investigation.
Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in 2016. They were declared legally single in 2019, but a shared custody arrangement has not been finalized for their three children who are minors: Shiloh, 17, and twins Vivienne and Knox, who turn 15 this week.