Brad Pitt says Angelina Jolie sought ‘harm’ by selling vineyard to Russian oligarch
- A new court filing says Stoli Group billionaire Yuri Shefler maintains ties with Putin’s inner circle and accuses him of ‘poisonous associations and intentions’
- The businessman – a Putin critic – rebranded his company after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and said he had been exiled from Russia since 2002
Brad Pitt has accused his ex-wife Angelina Jolie of seeking to “inflict harm” on him by selling her stake in their French vineyard to a Russian oligarch with “poisonous associations and intentions”.
The allegations, made in new court filings as part of Pitt’s lawsuit against Jolie for the sale of Chateau Miraval, are the latest barb in a bitter legal battle between the former Hollywood power couple who filed for divorce in 2016.
Last October, Jolie sold her stake in the southern France vineyard – where she and Pitt had their wedding – to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Russia-born billionaire Yuri Shefler’s drinks conglomerate.
Pitt sued in February, saying the couple had agreed never to sell their interests without the other’s consent, and accusing Jolie of seeking “unearned” profits.
In an amended complaint seen by Agence France-Presse, Pitt’s lawyers argue “Jolie sought to inflict harm on Pitt” with the sale, and describe Shefler as “a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions”.
The filing received by a Los Angeles court last Friday alleges Shefler “maintains personal and professional relationships with individuals in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle”.