Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie‘s legal battle over their French vineyard Château Miraval has gotten even more complicated.
Us Weekly can confirmed that Tenute del Mondo, the company that Jolie, 48, has been trying to sell her shares of the winery to countersued Pitt, 60, and his company Mondo Bongo on Monday, May 13, for €20 million, or over $21 million U.S. dollars.
In court documents filed on Monday, Tenute claimed Pitt misdirected funds and assets from Château Miraval “to be spent on his personal expenses and to be diverted to his other business ventures rather than be paid out as dividends and loan repayments.”
The company alleged that Pitt’s control over the French winery resulted in damages. The paperwork accused Pitt of causing “millions of its funds to be spent on projects that benefit him personally, including more than $1 million on renovations for a swimming pool that only he uses.”
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According to the countersuit, Pitt allegedly diverted Château Miraval’s assets to various side businesses “by funding them with Château Miraval’s money and/or allowing them to use Château Miraval’s image, premises and assets for zero or below market compensation.”
“Pitt and Mondo Bongo have turned Château Miraval into their personal piggy bank,” the countersuit alleged. “They have entered into a series of transactions using Château Miraval’s funds that have deprived Tenute of the profits and loan repayments to which it is entitled.”
A source familiar with the litigation told Us that the allegations against Pitt are “absurd.”
“[It] just shows the lengths to which Stoli will go and exposes its hypocrisy,” the insider noted. “Brad Pitt built Miraval and his connection to it is a key reason for its success.”
While Pitt and Jolie were declared legally single in 2019, the duo have spent years wrapped up in legal disputes over their French vineyard and custody of their minor children. (The pair share six kids: Maddox, 22, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15.)
When Jolie sold her shares of the property in 2021, Pitt subsequently took legal action. He claimed in June 2022 that Jolie sold her stake to “inflict harm” on him amid their divorce.
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“Pitt and Jolie purchased the château as a home to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business,” the court documents read at the time. “They agreed they would never sell their respective interests in Miraval without the other’s consent. The couple spent the holidays at Miraval with their children and were married there in 2014.”
Earlier this year, Pitt suffered a setback in the case when a judge dismissed several of his complaints against Jolie regarding the property.
“The judge dismissed most of Mr. Pitt’s claims because they don’t have a legal basis,” Jolie’s attorney, Paul Murphy, said in a statement, noting that she had “no ill will toward” her estranged husband. “Mr. Pitt’s lawsuit has never been about a business dispute; instead, it is about his attempts to cover up serious abuse, and we are gratified the judge has thrown out so much of Mr. Pitt’s complaint.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Pitt’s rep for comment.
