Grapes of wrath! Angelina Jolie's former company sues Brad Pitt for $250MILLION claiming he 'stole' their French wine business from her and secretly moved assets to friends and vanity projects to ensure she'd 'never see a dime' of its profits

Details

Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00

Written by Daily mail

            Angelina Jolie's former company is suing Brad Pitt for $250million for allegedly stealing their wine business from her. A cross-complaint filed today by Nouvel LLC is a legal clap-back after Pitt sued Jolie claiming she illegally sold her stake in Chateau Miraval, a French castle and wine brand. Jolie held her shares of the wine company through her firm, Nouvel, but sold it to beverage giant Stoli last year. Nouvel's filing claims Pitt tried to 'secretly move assets' from their co-owned business to his friends and other companies, spent 'millions on vanity projects' including $1million on a swimming pool and more on a recording studio, and gave away half the company's trademarks to a friend for free. The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $250million. Jolie's former company claims Pitt's alleged scheme meant she would 'never see a dime' of Chateau Miraval's 'tens of millions of dollars in profits.' 'In retaliation for the divorce and custody proceedings, Pitt embarked on a multi-faceted, years-long campaign to seize control of Chateau Miraval and appropriate the company's assets for his benefit and that of his own companies and friends,' the lawsuit says. 'Appointing himself the rightful owner of Chateau Miraval, his twin objectives were to usurp the value of Jolie's company, Nouvel, and to obtain sole ownership of Chateau Miraval.' Nouvel's lawsuit claims that 'Ever since his former wife, Angelina Jolie, filed for divorce from him in 2016, Brad Pitt has been waging a vindictive war against her' and says the lawsuit aims to 'seek redress for the illegal and malicious actions of Pitt and his allies to injure Nouvel by devaluing its investments'. The suit says that she wanted to sell her half to him when they split, but Pittallegedly tried to add gag clauses about their fights in the contract. 'Pitt knew that much of Jolie's wealth and liquidity were tied up in Nouvel and used that fact to try to force Jolie to agree to his unreasonable terms,' it says. She eventually sold Nouvel, including her wine company stake, to international beverage company Stoli Group. The lawsuit claims Pitt refused to work with the new co-owner and spread 'lies' that its owner, Yuri Shefler' is 'an ally of Vladimir Putin' – when in fact the company has sued the Russian government and Shefler was allegedly the subject of a kidnap attempt orchestrated by the Kremlin. The lawsuit adds that Pitt's scheme to hive off the wine company 'was aided by his allies, including Chateau Miraval directors Gary Bradbury, Roland Venturini, and Warren Grant, and his business partners, Marc Perrin, Familles Perrin, and Miraval Provence.' 'Nouvel filed a criminal complaint in France against Bradbury and Venturini for putting Chateau Miraval's assets to a use that they know is against the interest of the corporation, in bad faith,' the document says.
            Pitt's business associates are also the subject of a criminal complaint filed by Nouvel in France, according to the cross-complaint. Jolie and Pitt bought the chateau together in 2008 and used it as their 2014 wedding venue. The southern French castle has 35 rooms and 1,300 acres of grounds and vineyards. The couple bought it for $25million in 2008 by purchasing the Luxembourg company, Quimicum, in which it is held.Initially, Pitt's firm Mondo Bongo had 60% of the shares and Jolie's Nouvel had 40%. But Nouvel's lawsuit says that 'the couple always intended that Pitt and Jolie would be equal owners', and in 2013 Pitt 'voluntarily' transferred 10% of his shares to her. Pitt has launched a lawsuit in Luxembourg claiming that 10% transfer was invalid. That case is pending. They stayed business partners despite their divorce, until last year when Jolie sold her stake in October 2021 to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of Stoli Group. The two Hollywood stars each owned their half of the wine company through their own LLCs: Mondo Bongo LLC for Brad and Nouvel LLC for Angelina. Pitt sued her in June claiming that she 'sought to inflict harm' on him and that she had agreed not to sell her share without his consent. His lawsuit describes Chateau Miraval as 'one of the world's most highly regarded producers of rosé wine' and a 'multimillion-dollar global business'. He claims Jolie contributed 'nothing to Miraval's success' and that her buyer Shefler was 'bent on taking control of Miraval.' 'Jolie has sought to force Pitt into partnership with a stranger, and worse yet, a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions,' his lawsuit said. But according to Jolie's ex-company's counter-claim filed today in a Los Angeles court, that's just sour grapes. Her suit even accuses Pitt and his colleagues of profligate spending on the firm's dime. 'Pitt, Bradbury, and Venturini improperly diverted millions in dividends paid to Chateau Miraval from the Miraval Provence wine business to personal projects that lacked any legitimate business purpose, including spending over a million euros of the business' funds on a swimming pool and close to three million euros on 'garment works',' her lawsuit said.
            'Pitt also spent Chateau Miraval's money on personal projects apparently for the benefit of Pitt and Mondo Bongo's other portfolio investments, including a recording studio on the Miraval estate, which Pitt structured so that Nouvel has no direct ownership interest.' Nouvel’s lawsuit claims that Jolie never saw ‘a dime’ of Chateau Miraval’s ‘tens of millions of dollars’ in profits. It claims Pitt and his associates instead ‘improperly diverted millions in dividends’ to ‘personal projects’ including a swimming pool, ‘garment work’ and a recording studio. ‘What Brad’s doing is out of spite for his ex wife,’ a source close to Nouvel told DailyMail.com. ‘Most of the world would consider this theft, although Nouvel aren’t claiming theft here. ‘He’s basically just seized control of Chateau Miraval and is doing whatever he wants, including spending the profits that should’ve gone up to Jolie when she owned Nouvel, wasting them on his own pet vanity projects.’ Jolie and Pitt - whose marriage collapsed in 2016 - are parents to six children. Aside from Maddox, now 21, they also share twins Knox and Vivienne, 14, as well as daughters Shiloh, 16, Zahara, 17, and son Pax, 18. Although Jolie reportedly still has custody of the children, Pitt 'pushes to see them as often as possible wherever they all are in the world,' the insider said. 'Brad cherishes every moment he gets with the kids. He loves being a parent and has tried to make the best of a tricky situation given how hostile it's been with Angelina.' Since Pitt and Jolie began squabbling over custody, Pax and Maddox have reached adulthood, and Zahara will join them in January. When his marriage disintegrated, Pitt quit drinking, and shortly thereafter he told GQ that before he dried out 'I can't remember a day since I got out of college where I wasn't boozing or had a spliff, or something.'

 source : Daily mail