Revised suit says Jolie tried to inflict harm on Pitt in winery dispute

Brad Pitt has filed an amended complaint against his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, with new legal theories supporting his claim she wrongfully sold off her share of a French winery the couple owned to a Russian oligarch.

The revised Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was brought Friday and spans 54 pages, 12 more than the original filed on Feb. 17. The new court papers maintain Pitt’s basic claim that Jolie sold her stake in Chateau Miraval without Pitt’s consent, despite a previous agreement that they would never sell their respective interests in Miraval without the other’s consent.

“The vineyard became Pitt’s passion — and a profitable one, as Miraval, under Pitt’s stewardship, has grown into a multimillion-dollar global business and one of the world’s most highly regarded producers of rose wine,” the amended suit states.

The 47-year-old Jolie, meanwhile, contributed nothing to Miraval’s success and instead allowed Pitt, 58, to “pour money and sweat equity into the business in reliance on the consent right she owed him and a right of first refusal her business entity owed his,” the updated complaint states.

The amended suit alleges eight causes of action compared to five in the original. The updated causes of action are for breach of implied-in-fact contract, breach of quasi-contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, abuse of rights, tortious interference with contractual relations, two allegations of tortious interference with prospective business relations and constructive trust.

According to the lawsuit, the then-couple purchased a controlling interest in the southern France winery in 2008, envisioning the chateau as a home to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business. The couple were married at the estate in 2014.

In October 2021, Jolie purported to sell her interest to Tenute del Mondo, a hostile third-party competitor bent on taking control of Miraval, according to the amended suit. Tenute del Mondo is indirectly owned and controlled by Yuri Shefler. the Russian billionaire who controls the Stoli Group and whose flagship Russian vodka, Stolichnaya, has been the object of boycotts throughout the world, according to the revised suit.

The U.S. Treasury Department designated Shefler as an oligarch in the Russian Federation in an unclassified report to Congress, the amended suit alleges.

“Despite Shefler’s desperate attempt to disassociate himself from the Putin regime, the Stoli brand is now a massive international liability,” the amended suit states.

Jolie pursued and then consummated the purported sale in secret, purposely keeping Pitt in the dark, and knowingly violating Pitt’s contractual rights, the updated suit states.

” By doing so, Jolie sought to seize profits she had not earned and returns on an investment she did not make,” the updated suits state. “Also, through the purported sale, Jolie sought to inflict harm on Pitt. Jolie knew and intended that Shefler and his affiliates would try to control the business Pitt had built and to undermine Pitt’s investment in Miraval.”

Also, through the purported sale, Jolie sought to “inflict harm on Pitt,” according to the revised suit.

“Jolie knew and intended that Shefler and his affiliates would try to control the business Pitt had built and to undermine Pitt’s investment in Miraval,” according to the amended complaint.

Jolie has not returned to Miraval since filing for divorce in 2016 and had done nothing to “drive the growth of its business,” the updated suit states.

In January 2021, Jolie told Pitt in writing that she had reached a “painful decision, with a heavy heart” that she could no longer maintain any ownership position in an alcohol-based business, the updated suit states.

“The Jolie-led conspiracy has also required Miraval’s leadership to take urgent measures to manage the hostile and commercial threat posed by Stoli’s claimed ownership interest,” the updated complaint states.

Pitt seeks to reverse Jolie’s sale of her stake in the winery, along with unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

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