People Mag did some comprehensive coverage of Brad Pitt’s Miraval mess

As we discussed yesterday, the fight over Chateau Miraval continues to be a giant mess. Angelina Jolie successfully sold her half of Miraval to a Stoli subsidiary. Her half is called Nouvel, and Stoli is owned by Yuri Shefler. At this point, I don’t understand why the English-language press continues to act like the fight is solely about Angelina and Brad, when it’s clear that Shefler is on the warpath. While Pitt wallows in petulance and sad-sack grievance over Angelina selling Nouvel, Shefler is having the French authorities raid Miraval and there is, I believe, a significant criminal case to be made for Pitt defrauding Nouvel and defrauding his new business partner. Anyway, Nouvel (now owned by Shefler) launched a scathing attack on Pitt in new court filings this week. The Financial Times had some highlights, which we covered yesterday, but People Magazine had even more, including quotes from a “source close to Pitt.”

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s legal battle over the French winery they once owned together continues as Jolie’s former company makes harsh claims about Pitt. About Château Miraval, Jolie’s former investment firm Nouvel said in a new court filing obtained by PEOPLE that Pitt, 59, “has been engaged in a vindictive campaign to dominate and loot the wine business that the couple had built and owned together.”

Nouvel’s attorneys wrote that Pitt’s investment company Mondo Bongo has the same 50 percent ownership of Château Miraval as Nouvel. So, they write, “as a co-equal owner, Pitt enjoys precisely the same rights and obligations as Nouvel — nothing more, nothing less.” However, the filing claims that “following a script that may play in Hollywood but not in a court of law, Pitt and his co-conspirators have engaged in increasingly outrageous actions to retain control over Château Miraval and harm Nouvel by stripping Château Miraval of its assets….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.”

Reps for Pitt did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. A Pitt source familiar with the litigation claims to PEOPLE, “Brad built this business with Angelina for their family and she sold it behind his back. He wants to hold on to the business and continue to grow it.”

Nouvel’s filing claimed Jolie “offered to sell her interest” to Pitt and “negotiated with him for months.” But, “Pitt’s hubris got the better of him: he made an eleventh-hour demand for onerous and irrelevant conditions, including provision designed to prohibit Jolie from publicly speaking about the events that had led to the breakdown of their marriage.”

Pitt’s lawyers said the connection to the “Russia-affiliated spirits conglomerate” now “jeopardizes the reputation of the business that Pitt so carefully built.” Nouvel’s latest filing called that a “xenophobic, untrue smear campaign” and said Shefler is a “Russian exile who is a long-time critic of Vladimir Putin.”

In recent court documents, Pitt’s side said he and Jolie bought “the château as a home to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business.” And, “Jolie, though supportive of Pitt’s efforts on behalf of the family, did none of the work necessary for Miraval’s success.”

“The purported sale disrupts Pitt’s right to enjoy the home he established for his family,” his legal team then added. In its filing this week, Nouvel downpalyed Pitt’s involvement with the business (he “is an actor, not a winemaker,” they wrote, “he deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes) and said Château Miraval is no “family home.”

“The notion that Chateau Miraval was the Pitt-Jolie family home died back in 2016 when Pitt terrorized his wife and children in a drunken rage while en route from the chateau to Pitt’s true home — Hollywood,” they wrote. Nouvel legal team added, “This is a fight about money and corporate control, not a fight over a family home.”

A Pitt source responds to claims about his involvement in the wine company, saying, “It’s obviously going very well or else nobody would be fighting over this company. It’s a very successful brand, and he’s done a lot with it.”

Jolie’s attorney Paul Murphy claims, in part, in statement obtained by PEOPLE Tuesday, “The reality is that Pitt refused to complete the Miraval sale with Jolie unless she agreed to be silenced about the abuse. She legally sold her shares, yet Pitt persists in lawsuits against her.”

[From People]

The quotes from Nouvel’s filing are fire, and the quotes from “sources close to Pitt” are fascinating. “Brad built this business with Angelina for their family and she sold it behind his back. He wants to hold on to the business and continue to grow it.” In fact, he cut her out of the business for years and mismanaged her investment, and she was well within her rights to sell to a third party. But Pitt seems to be on the back foot here as well – it was much easier for him when he was bullying and financially abusing his ex-wife, but now he’s dealing with Shefler and Shefler is perfectly willing to air all of Pitt’s fraud and financial abuse in court. Pitt thought he could just sue Jolie and somehow reverse the sale of Nouvel. Nouvel’s new owner said: bitch, you thought. As I said, I think the endgame here is that Shefler will end up owning 100% of Miraval.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

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40 Responses to “People Mag did some comprehensive coverage of Brad Pitt’s Miraval mess”

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  1. Ameerah M says:

    I TRULY hope this is Brad’s FAFO era. And I hope he gets charged for all of his shady money dealings in France.

    • detritus says:

      Hearty agree.

      And I hope it’s public. As public as his shady shoddy charity work post Katrina, as public as his ‘Angelina hurt poor artistic Brad’ nonsense, as public as it can be.

    • AD says:

      His true family home is Hollywood & not Miraval

  2. Jais says:

    The notion that miraval was a family home died when he terrorized his family in a drunken rage. The nouvel legal team is not playing and are stating the facts. This is what needs to be covered.

    • NotTheOne says:

      Yes! I love that the legal team is not putting up with the shenanigans. If there was one thing that Amber Heard trial did, it put other women on notice on what the men will do to get the story told their way and now they’re prepared.

  3. I hope that mr. nasty loses the winery completely. He deserves to lose it and so much more. Karma do your thing.

    • Lady D says:

      Fingers crossed.

    • Golly Gee says:

      Shefler —a billionaire— has much deeper pockets than Pitt. He could easily keep Brad tied up in the courts, and sue him into bankruptcy. I suspect that’s why Brad has been selling off property and part of his production company. He’s in need of cash to pay his lawyers. What goes around comes around.

  4. Southern Fried says:

    I’d pay to see him in court against Shefler.

    • Ameerah M says:

      Brad is under the mistaken impression that he’s smart – he isn’t. And he is bout to learn what real business and businessmen look like.

      • Concern Fae says:

        I think he’s smarter than a lot of the actors and other Hollywood people, but he’s not smarter than the academics and seriously successful businessmen he wants to hang out with.

        Clooney is clever about it. He uses his brains in Hollywood, plays dumb elsewhere. While actually being reasonably smart.

        So much of this is about situational awareness and realizing when you don’t know the unspoken rules everyone else is operating under.

      • ArtHistorian says:

        Does anyone believe that Brad is still sober? Because I don’t think he is – and that would also effect how he makes decisions.

      • kel says:

        I saw on twitter some people commenting on him being visibly altered in an interview on Sunday
        #F1

    • Lady D says:

      It would be the only time I’d pay to see him, but I would too.

    • Eva says:

      ArtHistorian i agree with you. I think he has started drinking again last year or maybe even earlier. And he has boozing gf, so they are sharing that hobby.

      • Ivy says:

        Yup he acted like a mess during bullet train red carpet. I don’t think he’s been sober for awhile

  5. BlueNailsBetty says:

    Whew. Stefler/Nouvel came out swinging! You know they have every receipt in triplicate.

    I hope Stefler ends up owing 100% of Miraval AND that Brad has to repay the money he blew/mismanaged.

  6. SarahCS says:

    I am absolutely LOVING this for him. He’s spent years being pretty much untouchable and getting away with it, reputationaly and legally and he’s completely flummoxed now that he’s being publicly and legally held to account.

    FAFO Brad.

  7. ThatsNotOkay says:

    Pitt is shocked he can no longer bully women and children but now has to go up against other men, who have the power, leverage, and gender to win in court and the court of public opinion. Oops.

  8. MissMarirose says:

    This reminds me of the way Sophia Vergara’s ex uses the courts to try to continue to control and abuse her after she left him. The way these men keep trying to use litigation to hold on to a connection, however tenuous and fake, just so the women will never be free of them.
    I’ve seen this on a much smaller level, the abuse of the OOP system to keep women in court by making false accusations that the woman has to answer in court and therefore deal with him.
    It’s abuse, pure and simple.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      I think it is really important to get a public conversation going about the many forms abuse can take – physical, psychological but also financial and legal. I didn’t even know that if they can abusers use the legal system to continue their abuse of a partner that has left them. I had NO idea until I started follow the Brad-Angelina mess – and reading so many comments from people who been abused by their ex in this manner.

  9. Mrs. Smith says:

    A commenter here yesterday said the French media coverage of this story has been brutal. It would be fascinating to know the latest top-line overview of the news from there. Is he really about to be charged with fraud? Would that happen after this US trial with Shefler has concluded? Since we know the US media still pulls its punches for Pitt, it would be interesting to know exactly what’s being reported by media who DGAF about offending him.

    • Coco says:

      Yes fraud, tax evasion and many more. The IRS in France have already taken it to court and have a lawsuit against him. He lied about how much the winery is worth so he was paying less in taxes . The IRS felt something wasn’t right and showed their findings to a judge who also felt something wasn’t right as well and granted them permission to go investigate and audit him. They found out that it’s worth a lot more than what he’s been reporting for the last couple of years saying how much it’s worth thanks to his new partners. The new partners has receipts, signed off by Pitt on lawyers.

      • Mrs. Smith says:

        Thanks @Coco! Holy yikes, tangling with any government’s IRS in court is enough to make anyone sh*t their pants. The IRS usually wins and they always ask for jail time. I knew they had been looking into this case, but not that they had filed a lawsuit and are proceeding. 😳

      • I gaddis says:

        All of them mess and home he has dug for himself because of hubris, ignorance and maybe alcohol.
        All he had to do was sign the gd offer he proposed to her. She accepted him lowballing her but suggested she sign an NDA about the abuse. Bruh now look.
        And when she sold her half u get mad and won’t even communicate with the new owners. Hiding/shifting money why hunny?
        Just work with the folk and it could have been profitable. They aren’t even interested in the Chateau they just wan to sell wine. Jeezus.
        Kids this is what spitefulness causes.
        Now u have two lawsuits, the French government and possible criminal charges against you.
        Did he think this would
        Make people hate Angie more and him some kind of martyr. Is he crazy or listening to crazy people like Thomas his mentally I’ll best friend who pulled stuff like this on his ex wife and her lawyer l

      • Lady D says:

        Maybe he will get his fingers smacked this time.

      • Lorelei says:

        What an unbelievable idiot…Pitt is worth, how many millions? Yet he risks fraud charges to save some $ on taxes for his winery? The greed is breathtaking. Whatever paltry amount (to him) he saved certainly isn’t worth this mess. Moron

      • Coco says:

        @ Lorelei

        He’s cash poor; he borrowed 62 million from the shareholders that were supposed to go towards the winery but didn’t, which he has yet to pay that back. He owes millions to the new partner and 20 million+ to the MIR victims, I believe it’s close to a 100 million plus to the RIS in France, he owes Angie between 100 million to 200 million for the 6 years he cut her out of the business.

        That doesn’t count the thousands he sends on lawyers suing AJ every 5 minutes and all the other lawsuits against him. The millions he sent, on failed businesses, thousands on PR team, crisis manager, paying media outlets to keep quiet and post pro-Pitt stories.

        This is why he had to sold his home and production company. As someone said above he is not as smart or the business/financial pro that he thinks he is. All of this could have been avoided if did the right thing from the beginning.

  10. Mallory says:

    A father overcoming alcohol use disorder, his family healing from his drunken abuse…while living at his winery?! Nope. He NEVER had his children’s best interest at heart, only his wine.

  11. JanetDR says:

    I cannot wait for the ending!

  12. AD says:

    It’s high time someone takes him down, his gaslighting on his wife is inappropriate & unacceptable. His bullying, manipulation, control towards Angelina has to stop. I ‘ve always find him unreal, fake & arrogant, racists too. His Hollywood status has gone to his head- vanity & greed. Will his Hollywood family continue supporting this xenophobic abuser? Wait & see.

  13. “The notion that Chateau Miraval was the Pitt-Jolie family home died back in 2016, when Pitt terrorized his wife and children in a drunken rage while en route from the chateau to Pitt’s true home – Hollywood”…..HOLY SHIT, Shefler and Nouvel are not playing around with this asshole!! I LOVE IT!

  14. kel says:

    How could the guy have done this to his own family?! I remember his pr screaming to the world that he gave her a loan to buy the house so she could live with her children. Definitely, Atelier Jolie is a new beginning for her and her children.

    Yuri shefler is my hero!!

    • Coco says:

      His PR team has been on the BS from the beginning because his finances have been a mess for years he does nothing, but spew lies and garbage.

    • AC says:

      A loan where he charged her a high-interest rate? Most of Jolie’s money was taken up in the purchase of Miraval, and he would not give her the decency to sell it to him because he wanted an NDA.
      Imagine you loan your ex-spouse money to house your kids, but then turn around and call that child support. I am glad that Jolie got her money back from that sale!

      I am waiting for the end, and I hope this douche gets what should come to him for everything he did and said to hurt his family. No wonder his kids don’t want anything to do with him! Clean is clock Yuri because it’s about time he gets that plastic smile off of his face

  15. Facts says:

    I really can’t say this enough. Bradley has some serious issues that has lingered for years. Angie is just easy prey for the media because of her being eccentric.
    I don’t think he wanted a huge family and certainly shouldn’t have had one. He indulged in the attention and fame that came along with Angie and the kids.
    I think he loves his kids but he is certainly problematic. We see now who the problem is regardless of the narrative Cynthia and Matthew is feeding the rags.

  16. ML says:

    “ I don’t understand why the English-language press continues to act like the fight is solely about Angelina and Brad…”

    Ugh, it’s also the Dutch press. I’m so thankful that BP doesn’t get a free ride to further abuse his family here; I truly despise him. Yesterday, there was an article on a Dutch site that made it seem like Angie is suing poor, helpless BP for revenge. After I tried to post to correct that isht, they removed some of the worst language, but Yuri Shefler’s name is never mentioned. The posters, who are already pro Brad, all think she’s attacking him unnecessarily and this family man is being kept from his children by this vengeful witch. I hate him.