Court docs accuse the actor of acting 'like a petulant child.'
The drama over Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's French vineyard is once again in the spotlight. On Monday, Nouvel, Jolie's former investment company, filed docs claiming that Pitt "stripped" and "looted" Château Miraval, the winery he and his ex bought in 2008, in an effort to regain control of the business. ET has reached out to Pitt's rep for comment.
Currently, Pitt owns 50 percent of interest of Château Miraval, the same amount as Nouvel. However, Jolie's former investment company claims in court docs obtained by ET that Pitt has attempted to "seize de facto control" of the winery by wasting millions of the company's money on a series of "vanity projects."
The docs additionally claim that Pitt has attempted "to turn over half of the value of Château Miraval's most valuable assets" to his friend and business partner for free. Nouvel also alleges that Pitt has wasted "the company's assets for the benefit of his other businesses."
A source close to the litigation tells ET that the allegation that Pitt looted the company is "absurd," given that the actor "has poured millions more into this business."
The docs allege that Pitt's "misconduct escalated" after Jolie sold Nouvel to Tenute del Mondo, a member of the Stoli Group, in 2021.
"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 docs allege.
The docs additionally claim that, while Pitt has alleged that the Stoli Group is a "hostile actor" and tried to "besmirch the reputation of its owner, Yuri Shefler," the actor has the "'hostile actor' role exactly backwards."
"This very lawsuit -- again based on Pitt's alternative reality in which Jolie allegedly gave him veto rights over a sale of Nouvel that appear nowhere in their written agreements or communications -- was initiated by Pitt, not Nouvel," the docs read, before addressing Pitt's claim that the Stoli Group was "trying to evict him from his 'family home.'"
"The notion that Château Miraval was the Pitt-Jolie family home died back in 2016 when Pitt terrorized his wife and children in a drunken rage while en route from the chateau to Pitt’s true home -- Hollywood," the docs read of the infamous incident, from which Pitt was cleared of allegations of verbal and physical abuse against one of the couple's children.
"Pitt developed a publicly acknowledged alcohol abuse problem. In 2016, after a serious and internationally publicized incident between Pitt, Jolie, and the couple’s children on a plane trip from France to California, Jolie filed for divorce," the docs read.
Ever since then, Nouvel alleges, "Brad Pitt has been engaged in a vindictive campaign to dominate and loot the wine business that the couple had built and owned together."
Meanwhile, according to the docs, Jolie became "increasingly uncomfortable participating in an alcohol business" with Pitt, and, "given the events that led to her filing for divorce, neither she nor any of the children felt able to return to the chateau."
As such, she decided to sell the company. A source tells ET that Jolie did not do so behind Pitt's back, but was instead forced to sell after he dropped out of negotiations and then tried to get her to sign an NDA.
However, ET's source close to the litigation claims that Stoli "wanted to get involved to profit off Brad's celebrity, working with Jolie behind his back and then issuing a press release announcing their new 'partnership' with him."
Still, Jolie's attorney, Paul Murphy, tells ET, "Mr. Pitt cannot escape the facts of why Ms. Jolie was forced to sell her shares of the alcohol business -- facts that led the FBI to find probable cause that he verbally and physically assaulted Ms. Jolie and their children, even choking one child."
"Still today and in the seven years since that fateful plane ride, he has sources deny his abuse and avoids publicly speaking to the issue himself, and the press doesn't ask him," Murphy adds. "The reality is that Pitt refused to complete the Miraval sale with Jolie unless she agreed to be silenced about the abuse. She legally sold her shares, yet Pitt persists in lawsuits against her."
Meanwhile, a source close to Jolie says, "One can only imagine what she and the children feel when, once their abuse is known to the world, it means so little and stories focus on swimming pools and staircases instead of the harm they endured."
Nouvel is seeking "at least $350 million in damages" for Pitt and his cross-defendants' "unlawful and oppressive conduct."
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