(Los Angeles) The two American superstars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt continue to tear each other apart over the terms of their divorce: the actor is demanding a civil lawsuit against his ex-wife to challenge the sale of his shares in their southern wine estate from France.
Posted at 3:52 p.m.
The former Hollywood star couple teamed up in 2011 with a family of French winegrowers, the Perrins, to produce “Miraval Côtes de Provence”, named after their castle in the town of Val, near Correns in the Var (south-eastern France).
The 500-hectare estate, including 50 hectares of vines, was acquired in 2008.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married there in 2014, after years of living as a couple, before initiating divorce proceedings in 2016 which has since dragged on in long legal battles, in particular over the custody of their six children.
Latest episode: a complaint filed by Brad Pitt Thursday evening in a California court stating that the two stars “agreed never to sell their respective interests in the Miraval estate without the consent of one or the other “.
But in October, Angelina Jolie sold her shares to “a Luxembourg-based spirits manufacturer controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler”, once known as the boss of Russia’s biggest vodka export company and who was confronted in court in 2002 with the Russian State.
According to the complaint consulted by AFP, the sale of the shares was made for the benefit of “the buyer Tenute del Mondo”, a subsidiary of the Stoli group controlled by Mr. Shefler.
In his complaint, Brad Pitt criticizes Angelina Jolie for not having first offered him the sale of her shares, accuses her of having “long since ceased to contribute to Miraval” and demands that the case be decided by a civil court, with a jury. A source familiar with the matter even accused Angelina Jolie on Friday of “seeking a return on an investment she did not make and profits she did not earn”.
The couple had paid in 2008 “about 25 million euros” for the wine estate, Brad Pitt bringing 60% and Angelina Jolie 40%. Since the arrival of winemaker Marc Perrin in 2011, turnover has increased from three million dollars in 2013 to more than 50 million dollars in 2021.
In January 2020, the Miraval rosé wine estate teamed up with Peters champagne (eastern France) to create a house dedicated to rosé champagne, “a family project between Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and their children with the families of winegrowers Perrin and Peters”.
Solicited on Friday by AFP, the company Tenute del Mondo welcomed its “investment in Miraval, an exceptional wine” with the aim of making it “the most renowned brand of rosé wine and champagne”.