Pitt and Jolie dispute sale of vineyard stake

ANGELINA JOLIE “sought to inflict harm” on Brad Pitt, her former husband, by selling her stake in their coowned vineyard to a “cut-throat” Russian oligarch, according to claims made in US court documents.

The sale helped a “hostile” takeover of the wine business in France that Pitt had “carefully built”. It forced him into partnership with “a stranger with poisonous associations”, his lawyers said.

The former Hollywood power couple purchased a controlling stake in Chateau Miraval SA in the south of France, in 2008. The couple were married at the 1,000-acre estate in 2014. She filed for divorce in 2016.

Pitt’s lawyers claim that under his stewardship the business grew into a “multimillion-dollar international success story” though Jolie “contributed nothing”. Last year, Ms Jolie sold her stake to a Luxembourg-based spirits manufacturer controlled by Yuri Shefler. It distills Stoli vodka and has been the subject of sanctions.

According to the lawsuit, she made the sale without Pitt’s knowledge.

The documents, filed last week and obtained by the PA news agency, claim: “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.”

They add that Mr Shefler “gained notoriety through cut-throat business tactics and dubious professional associations” and a link with him “jeopardises the reputation of the brand”.

The Miraval estate was bought by the couple for around €25 million (£20.9million). It is now thought to be worth more than £130million.