Brad Pitt is preparing for a courtroom showdown with ex-wife Angelina Jolie as they continue to fight over the French winery they purchased while married, Us Weekly can exclusively report.
On Friday, June 20, the F1 star revealed in court documents that he expects the jury trial related to the lawsuit he brought against his ex will last 15 days. Jolie also believes it will take over two weeks, according to court documents.
Pitt said that the trial date is still to be determined, and several motions have yet to be decided.
The actor called the case “complex” due to the foreign parties involved and the various cross claims filed by the defendants.
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As Us previously reported, Pitt filed the suit in 2022 claiming Jolie broke a promise they had to not sell their separate shares in the winery, Château Miraval, without the other’s approval.
The exes purchased the estate in 2008. Pitt said they planned to pass it down to their children. He told the court he spent a ton of time and money turning Miraval into a successful winery.
Pitt and Jolie split in 2016, but continued to hold on to their stake in Miraval. Jolie approached Pitt in 2021 telling him she wanted out of the business.
In a private email to Pitt submitted in the court battle, she wrote, “In the past four years I have seen lots of inconsiderate behavior, money spent in ways that I would not have approved, and decisions made that I was not consulted on.”
Jolie added, “I’ve been hurt by decisions that have been made that show no interest in sharing the business or changing it fundamentally into something that would be healthier for our children.”
Jolie and Pitt initially worked on buying out her stake. The actor and his team offered $55.4 million, according to court docs. The payment would be broken down as a $46 million lump sum and the rest paid out in installments.
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He claimed Jolie, who purchased her stake in Miraval via a company she owned called Nouvel, backed out of the deal after he proposed a non-disparagement agreement in connection with the deal. Jolie claimed Pitt tried to get her to sign the NDA to cover up “years of abuse.” Pitt has denied her claims. (Jolie was ordered to turn over NDAs she had with third parties from 2014 to 2022 as part of the legal battle.)
Pitt did not believe Jolie’s claims. His lawyer argued, “This was the pretext. In reality. [Jolie] and Nouvel had covertly lined up and tentatively struck a deal with a third party: the Stoli Group, owned and controlled by Russian billionaire, Yuri Shefler, and its subsidiary Tenute del Mondo.”
In his lawsuit, Pitt said Jolie sold her stake to Stoli without his approval, which he claimed was against an agreement they had made.
Pitt claimed Stoli attempted a hostile takeover of Miraval. Jolie denied all allegations of wrongdoing or that she had an agreement with Pitt that required his approval for her to sell her stake.
Jolie’s former company, Nouvel, which was purchased by Stoli, filed a $250 million countersuit against Pitt. Stoli accused the actor of misusing company assets on vanity projects. He denied the allegations.
In his recent motion, Pitt explained that he hopes he will end up the owner of Nouvel’s shares at the end of the trial. He said Nouvel would no longer have any interest in Miraval.
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He said Nouvel and Pitt’s company filed separate lawsuits against each other in Europe, which are ongoing. Pitt said that those cases “are well advanced, with a Luxembourg court provisionally” taking 10 percent of Nouvel’s shares in the company Quimicum, which is where Jolie and Pitt held ownership in Miraval via their separate companies, into an escrow account.
He said if he is victorious in that case, the claims brought by Nouvel in his case will be moot but his claims against Jolie will continue.
Jolie has yet to respond to Pitt’s recent filing.
Last year, Pitt and Jolie finalized their eight-year divorce battle.
