Angelina Jolie’s Former Company Rips Brad Pitt for His Past Friendship With ‘Notorious Predator’ Harvey Weinstein in Bitter $250 Million Court Battle
Jul. 10 2023, Published 6:13 p.m. ET
Angelina Jolie’s former company attacked the actress’ ex-husband Brad Pitt in the ongoing battle over a $165 million French estate, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Nouvel, the company once owned by Jolie, has filed an amended complaint against Pitt demanding $250 million in damages.
As we previously reported, Pitt and Jolie purchased the estate/winery named Chateau Miraval in 2008 while married. The actor said they planned on creating a family business to hand down to their children.
Last year, Pitt sued Jolie accusing her of breaking a promise to not sell their individual stakes in the company without the approval of the other.
In his suit, he claimed Jolie approached him in 2021 telling him she wished to sell her interest. Pitt said he agreed to work on finding a third party to buy her stake or he would find funding to purchase it.
The negotiations eventually fell apart.
The actor said his ex went behind his back and sold her stake, which was held in her company Nouvel, to a third-party company called Tenute del Mondo which is owned by Stoli Group.
Pitt said Tenute del Mondo is “indirectly owned and controlled” by a Russian oligarch named Yuri Shefler. Pitt said his “vindictive” ex-wife “collaborated in secret” with Shefler to ensure he was “kept in the dark.”
Further, he believed Jolie made the deal with the man with ties to Putin to ruin Chateau’s reputation.
Nouvel filed a countersuit accusing Pitt of attempting to “seize control” of the winery to ensure Jolie “would never see a dime” of its profits.
Further, the company accused Pitt of attempting to force Jolie to sign a “hush-clause” that would prohibit her from speaking about the divorce as part of the negotiations over the winery. It said Jolie was ready to sell her stake to Pitt before he presented the clause.
"Pitt has frozen Nouvel out of Château Miraval and treats it as his personal fiefdom," the countersuit read.
Nouvel accused Pitt of wasting millions of the company’s assets on vanity projects and even accused him of secretly moving assets to companies owned by him and his friends.
"Pitt wasted its assets, spending millions on vanity projects, including more than $1 million on swimming pool renovations," the suit read.
In the amended lawsuit, Nouvel attacked Pitt for suggesting Stoli Group and its founder Shefler “are somehow tied to Vladimir Putin.” They called the allegations “categorically false.”
“This is a desperate effort to deflect attention from Pitt’s toxic media coverage—ranging from his construction of unlivable homes for Hurricane Katrina victims, to his close association with the notorious predator Harvey Weinstein, to the recent disturbing revelations of alcohol-fueled abusive behavior towards his family. Pitt is also wrong. It is not Stoli Group or Shefler whose reputation poses commercial risk to Chateau Miraval—it is his own,” Nouvel said.
The company explained, “In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Pitt founded the “Make It Right Foundation”, an effort to provide victims with homes. But that initiative devolved into lawsuits and recriminations when it was revealed that the homes Pitt’s foundation built used faulty designs and materials, and now have major issues with water infiltration, mold, structural damage, and gas leaks. Only six of the 109 homes built are in reasonably good condition.”
In regard to Weinstein, Nouvel said, “Pitt also worked with disgraced predator and rapist Harvey Weinstein, even though the press has reported that Jolie disclosed to Pitt that Weinstein had assaulted her in the late 1990s and had urged him not to associate with Weinstein. Pitt has also publicly acknowledged being aware of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct toward Pitt’s ex-girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow. But Pitt ignored these warnings. He starred in a film co-produced by Weinstein in 2009 and even asked Weinstein to produce his own movie in 2012, which Weinstein later distributed. Pitt’s close association with Weinstein added to his media woes.”
In the past, Paltrow praised Pitt for standing up to Weinstein in 1995. She claimed the actor confronted the producer after Paltrow told him Weinstein had sexually assaulted her. She claimed Pitt told Weinstein "If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I’ll kill you.”
Nouvel said while Pitt accused Shefler and his company of being tied to Putin — that wasn't the truth.
“In reality, Stoli and Shefler have been fighting a well-publicized and well-documented battle against Putin for decades. The fight between Shefler and Putin is so well-known that it must be that Pitt simply decided to intentionally misrepresent the facts,” the lawsuit read.
Further, Nouvel denied Pitt’s claim that Shefler had attempted a “hostile” takeover of Chateau.
The company accused Pitt and his associates of misusing Chateau’s assets. “Pitt’s bullying tactics started with Jolie. She would not be bullied by them, and neither will Nouvel. Instead, Nouvel will pursue all remedies it has against anyone, including Pitt and his co-conspirators, who should be subjected to civil and criminal liability for their actions,” the suit read.