Pitt accused of ‘looting’ Miraval’s assets

An ongoing legal dispute over a French estate and winery Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie formerly owned together continues to escalate.

In a new court filing obtained by CNN, Jolie's former investment company Nouvel accuses Pitt and "co-conspirators" of attempting to retain control of Château Miraval by "stripping" and "looting" its assets. Nouvel is seeking at least $350 million in damages.

"Pitt wasted the company's assets, spending millions on vanity projects, including more than $1 million on swimming pool renovations, building and rebuilding a staircase four times, and spending millions to restore a recording studio," the document filed on July 10 states.

Attorneys for Nouvel claim in the filing that Pitt's "misconduct" escalated after Jolie sold Nouvel in October 2021 to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group, controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler.

"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," the filing states.

Pitt first filed a lawsuit over Jolie's sale of the estate and winery in February 2022, calling it "unlawful" because, he claims, the two had agreed when they purchased the property that neither would sell without the other's consent.

Jolie filed a countersuit, claiming that there was never any such agreement and that she sold her portion of the winery in an effort to have "financial independence" from Pitt and to "have some form of peace and closure to this deeply painful and traumatic chapter of her and their children's lives."

The former couple purchased the country estate and winery in the south of France in 2008.