Russian Oligarch’s Letter to Brad Pitt Exposed in War With Angelina Jolie Over $164 Million French Winery
Jul. 12 2023, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
The Russian billionaire at the center of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s nasty court battle over a French winery claims he attempted to work out issues with the actor privately, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Last year, Pitt sued his ex-wife after she sold her stake in Chateau Miraval to a company called Stoli, which is run by the alleged Russian Oligarch Yuri Shefler.
The winery was purchased while Pitt and Jolie were married. Pitt turned the estate into a lucrative business.
In 2021, the actress told her ex she wanted out and wished to sell her stake.
Pitt was set to buy Jolie’s stake, but negotiations fell apart. He claimed his ex-broke a promise not to sell her stake without his approval when she sold it to Stoli. Further, he believed Jolie choose Stoli to harm Chateau Miraval. He said it was a bad look that Shefler was associated with the Russian president.
Pitt claimed Shefler and his associates attempted a hostile takeover of Miraval after the purchase. The actor demanded the sale be voided and Stoli be removed as owner.
Jolie held her shares of Miraval in a company named Nouvel. She sold Nouvel to Stoli. In response to the lawsuit, Nouvel filed a $250 million countersuit against Pitt.
In the complaint, Nouvel accused Pitt and his associates of wasting Miraval’s assets on vanity projects. It denied Stoli had attempted a hostile takeover and accused the actor of blocking it from the business operations.
Nouvel denied Shefler has ties to Putin and claimed he opposed the vicious leader. The company accused Pitt of making claims false about Shefler to distract from his own bad PR.
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Specifically, they pointed out he had a long friendship with rapist Harvey Weinstein and the legal drama over the homes he tried to build for Hurricane Katrina victims.
As part of the countersuit, Nouvel attached a letter that Shefler sent Pitt as alleged evidence the billionaire tried to work with the actor.
The note read, “Dear Brad, I am writing to you in these anxious and baffling times when the designs of a wicked, aggressive man dissolve the frame of civilised society and the atrocities of war destroys the countries.”
He said he had been born in the USSR and when the time came, “I was doing my best in order to build a new democratic Russia, being an ally to political opposition democratic leader Boris Nemtsov, who has been viciously and ruthlessly killed by the “bloody regime” back in 2015.”
“After several attempts organised by FSB secret service to poison me in Moscow, I have made a decision to leave Russia and not been able to return over the last 20 years,” he wrote to Pitt.
“I stand for freedom and democracy,” he wrote. “The reason to outline my life path over the last 20 years is very simple – I have been at war and I am fully aware of all the burdens and hardship of it. War in any shape is destructive. The last thing I want is to start a legal war, which will clearly be very costly, time and efforts consuming.”
He added, “There is nothing personal in the situation we both find ourselves in and anyone could have been in my place, purchasing the shares from your ex-partner. I have a definite and practical proposal to make for action, i.e. find a compromise to current situation in regards to Miraval.”
The letter, which did little to calm tension between the parties, was signed by Shefler.
Nouvel argued that Stoli and Shefler are “highly regarded in the international beverage industry and have worked with numerous prominent companies and celebrities.”
As RadarOnline.com first reported, sources tell us Pitt is “unbothered” by the new claims in court. An insider said he’s busy “living his best life” filming his new Formula 1 film.