The legal battle over over Château Miraval, the French winery once owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, is heating up again.
New documents filed in California court accused Pitt of “looting” and “stripping” the Château’s assets in an effort to hold control of the property.
The new complaint was made by Nouvel, Jolie’s former investment firm, which holds what was once her 50% stake in the winery.
Pitt’s firm Mondo Bongo owns the other 50%.
Nouvel seeks $350 million in damages.
They continued that Pitt wasted the company’s money.
Adding he spent “millions on vanity projects, including more than $1 million on swimming pool renovations, building and rebuilding a staircase four times, and spending millions to restore a recording studio,” the document reads.
Nouvel lawyers claimed that Pitt’s “misconduct” was elevated after Jolie sold Nouvel in October of 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 filing reads.
The former couple purchased the winery in 2008, and have been locked in a legal dispute over the property.
Pitt filed a lawsuit in February 2022 claiming that Jolie’s sale of the property was not lawful, adding that when they purchased the Château together, they decided not to sell before agreeing together on the move.
Jolie answered with a countersuit and said they never agreed on that.
She added that she sold her part of the winery in order to gain “financial independence” from Brad.
The legal dispute escalated in October when Jolie opened up about abuse she said she and her children suffered at the hands of her ex-husband on a flight.
In a suit the actress alleged Pitt choked one of their children and hit another during a 2016 flight on a private jet five days before Jolie filed for divorce.
The allegations of abuse on the plane first became public shortly after the flight, but reports were initially vague and details were kept sealed in divorce documents.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, both investigated the incident – they took no action against Pitt.
The superstar has styled himself as something of a gentleman farmer in recent years.
“I’m a farmer now,” Pitt, 59, told Wine Spectator back in 2014, “I love learning about the land and which field is most suitable for which grape, the drama of September and October: Are we picking today? Where are the sugar levels? How is the acidity? Is it going to rain? It’s been a schooling for me.”
The papers lay into claims, previously made by Pitt’s attorneys, that Jolie’s decision to sell off her share in the business has threatened to ruin the project that Pitt has poured so much of himself into.
Calling the idea that Pitt “built” the business “ludicrous.”
“Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker,” it scoffs.
“He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes.”
It goes on: “During the years that he allegedly ‘built’ the business, he filmed and appeared in dozens of movies, not to mention making countless promotional appearances, jetting-setting [sic] around the world for movie premieres, and attending Hollywood parties.”
The complaint claims that Pitt “looted” the business, spending millions of dollars in profits on frivolous projects, including renovating a recording studio.
Angelina Jolie mercilessly mocks Brad Pitt’s as ‘ludicrous’ winemaker. Angelina Jolie mercilessly mocks Brad Pitt’s as ‘ludicrous’ winemaker