Brad Pitt can sue a Russian billionaire who bought a 50 percent stake in a French winery from Angelina Jolie in the wake of their messy divorce, a state appeals court has ruled.
The couple purchased the 1,200-acre winery in the South of France where they married, Chateau Miraval, in 2008. Jolie planned to sell her half to Pitt until negotiations broke down over his insistence that she sign a nondisclosure agreement barring her from publicizing allegations of abuse leading up to their split. That includes an altercation in 2016 on a private plane in which she claimed that Pitt “grabbed her by the head and shook her,” “choked one of the children” and “struck another in the face.”
Jolie balked at the term and struck a $64 million deal with the billionaire alcohol magnate, Yuri Shefler. Pitt in 2022 filed a lawsuit, claiming that the actress reneged on an unwritten agreement that they wouldn’t sell their stakes in the business without the other’s consent. Shefler’s involvement in the case concerns allegations he orchestrated the acquisition in secret alongside Jolie to facilitate the breach of Pitt’s rights.
A California state court judge initially found that Shefler wasn’t sufficiently involved in the deal, meaning that he couldn’t be forced into the case because he was just a passive investor.
A state appeals court reversed that decision, finding that Shefler played a vital role in structuring and finalizing the deal to purchase Miraval. It pointed to him guaranteeing $39 million of the purchase using his own funds, a provision he wouldn’t agree to if he wasn’t involved in the agreement. There’s “strong evidence that Shefler had the ultimate decision-making authority as to whether the negotiations would continue and on what terms,” stated the order issued on Wednesday.
Shefler sent three letters to Jolie over the course of the transaction. One thanked her for accepting his offer and assured her that a deal would be made “despite personal complications.” Another asked Jolie to postpone paying an installment on the purchase due to complications with Pitt.
“Far from inconsequential, these letters demonstrate Shefler’s continuing communications with a California resident and his direct involvement in ensuring the deal was consummated, including his soliciting Jolie’s involvement to address Shefler’s dispute with Pitt (over buying Nouvel), and his negotiating the payment terms under the agreement,” wrote justice Gail Feuer in the ruling.
The long-running case has peeled back the origins of Pitt and Jolie’s divorce and hostility between the former couple. In a countersuit filed after he sued her over the winery, Jolie detailed for the first time abuse by him of her and their children. She detailed a violent altercation in 2016 on a private plane, five days after which she filed for divorce.
Pitt has denied the allegations. In a statement at the time, a representative for the actor said that Jolie “continues to rehash, revise and reimagine her description of an event that happened 6 years ago by adding completely untrue information each time she fails to get what she wants.”