In July of last year, Angelina Jolie went to court to have the freeze on one joint property removed. The property? Chateau Miraval, the French home/winery/vineyard which was, at the time, co owned by Angelina and Brad Pitt. When Angelina filed for divorce in 2016, the court put a freeze on all jointly-held assets, meaning neither Brad nor Angie could sell anything which was jointly owned. Jolie went to court last July because five years had passed and she had a buyer for her half of Miraval. She had informed Brad and his lawyers of the potential buyer for weeks beforehand, but they had not responded, so she went to court. The freeze was removed and Angelina began the negotiation to sell her half. By September, Brad was throwing a fit, and he dragged her into court about it. The issue was resolved quickly: Angelina was legally allowed to dissolve the business partnership she had with Pitt and sell her half of Miraval, which she did in short order. She sold her half of Miraval to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli, and she reportedly got a good price. Well, guess who’s still big mad about it?

Brad Pitt says Angelina Jolie double-crossed him by secretly selling her interest in a winery they jointly owned … sold it to a Russian oligarch, and he’s now suing her to undo the deal. Brad’s legal docs, obtained by TMZ, are part of their never-ending divorce war. The 2 bought Chateau Miraval in Correns, France back in 2008. Brad says he invested a ton of money and time in the winery over the years, although he acknowledges Angelina plunked down 40% of the $28.4 million purchase price.

Brad says he alone made the winery successful because by 2013 she wasn’t doing much in that department. He claims they always had an understanding … neither of them could sell off their interest without the other’s consent. Fast forward to 2016 … Angelina filed for divorce and it became super contentious.

Last July Angelina went to court and told the judge she had reached an agreement to sell her interest to an unnamed person. Pitt says in September he agreed to allow Angelina to pursue the sale but made it clear … he was not consenting to the sale, but rather would give thumbs up or down to the proposed buyer. Brad says in October he was shocked to learn a company called Tenute del Mondo — a subsidiary of Stoli Group (the vodka co.) — controlled by Russian oligarch, Yuri Shefler, bought her interest in the winey.

Brad says he alone made the winery successful because by 2013 she wasn’t doing much in that department. He claims they always had an understanding … neither of them could sell off their interest without the other’s consent. He says Angelina never sought his consent and intentionally kept the terms of the deal from him.

Brad says Shefler has wreaked havoc on his ability to run the winery. A source close to BP tells us, “Unfortunately, this is another example of the same person disregarding her legal and ethical obligations. In doing so, she has violated the rights of the only person who poured money and sweat equity into the success of the business by purporting to sell both the business and family home to a third-party competitor. She is seeking a return on an investment she did not make and profits she did not earn.”

Brad now wants the judge to undo the deal. He also wants damages. We reached out to a rep for Angelina … so far, no word back.

[From TMZ]

Reportedly, Angelina wanted out of Miraval partly because it was one of the largest and last remaining jointly held asset. Jolie was also uncomfortable with what Brad was doing with Miraval. She was uncomfortable with who he was bringing into the home and he had shut her out of the winery business. I believed last fall that the court had completely cleared the sale of Jolie’s half and that this was settled. I still believe that, because notice how tricky the language of Pitt’s lawsuit is: “He claims they always had an understanding … neither of them could sell off their interest without the other’s consent…” An “understanding” isn’t a binding legal agreement. The court affirmed that Jolie owned half of Miraval and that she had the right to sell her half.

Reading Page Six’s coverage (they got the same quote from the same unnamed source, Brad is such a busy bee when he’s smearing Jolie), they say the lawsuit is also about how Brad had the right of first refusal and he had no idea about this sale. Even though he dragged her into court about last year, even though she informed Pitt and his lawyers about her desire to sell and the fact that she had a buyer lined up. If he wanted to outbid Stoli, he could have. He could have completely bought her out years ago. He didn’t.

Also: imagine suing the woman you abused. How much of this is just another extension of Brad’s abuse of Jolie?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar and Backgrid.