The Johnny Depp effect? Now Brad Pitt wants JURY TRIAL against Angelina Jolie
After the high-profile Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial, the US might be down for another over-the-top trial. Apparently, Brad Pitt has requested a trial by jury against ex-wife Angelina Jolie, alleging she sold her half stake of their wine company Château Miraval — a 1,000-acre vineyard in the South of France to Russian businessman Yuri Shefler without his consent. The actor claims that he and Jolie had an agreement that neither would sell their business interests in Miraval without the other party’s consent.
Court documents reveal an amended complaint filed by Pitt on Friday, June 3, at Los Angeles County Superior Court. Pitt added that he believes Jolie intentionally “sought to inflict harm on him" by selling her interests in their company. “Pitt and Jolie purchased the château as a home to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business. They agreed they would never sell their respective interests in Miraval without the other’s consent. The couple spent the holidays at Miraval with their children and were married there in 2014,” court documents state.
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Brad Pitt sues ex-wife Angelina Jolie for illegally selling her stake in French winery
“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 rosé wine,” the filing continued. “Jolie, meanwhile, contributed nothing to Miraval’s success. Instead, she allowed Pitt 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.”
Jolie sold her stake in Chateau Miraval in October 2021 to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of the Stoli Group, who Pitt described as a “hostile third-party competitor bent on taking control of Miraval", in the documents. Mondo is indirectly owned and controlled by Yuri Shefler — the Russian billionaire who controls the Stoli Group and whose flagship Russian vodka, Stolichnaya, has faced calls for boycotts in the wake of that country’s invasion of Ukraine. Jolie and Pitt purchased a controlling stake in Château Miraval in 2008 and got married there in 2014. Despite their divorce, the pair had remained business partners in Miraval, the wine brand that comes from the property’s vineyards and is best known for its rosé.
Pitt filed a lawsuit against Jolie in February of this year for selling half of the stake. At the time that suit was filed, Robert Olson, counsel for Jolie, told Newsweek, “Press is reporting that Mr. Pitt has filed another lawsuit against Ms. Jolie. She has not yet been served, and we are instead learning about the complaint from the media who appear to have been given access to the report to create a press story prior to Ms. Jolie even being served.”
In the court filing, Pitt has accused Jolie of “purposely keeping Pitt in the dark, and knowingly violating Pitt’s contractual rights,” with the intent of hurting his growing business. “Just as Jolie envisioned, that is exactly what Shefler has done,” the complaint stated. “Since claiming to acquire Jolie’s interest in Miraval, Shefler has launched a hostile takeover of the wine business, destabilizing Miraval’s operations and seeking access to Miraval’s confidential and proprietary information for the benefit of his competing enterprise.” The complaint further suggested that Jolie “has sought to force Pitt into partnership with a stranger, and worse yet, a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions.” According to the complaint, Pitt with his LLC, Mondo Bongo, “demand a trial by jury” in order to settle the matter.
