Brad Pitt's wine brand, produced on his Château Miraval estate in the South of France, is reportedly being sold in Russia while the actor remains locked in a lawsuit over a billionaire from the country having a stake in the business.
The Oscar winner bought a controlling stake in the Correns estate with his then-wife Angelina Jolie in 2008. Château Miraval is where they wed and vacationed with their family. Following their split, Jolie sold her 50 percent share in the winery to the company Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of mogul Yuri Shefler's SPI Group, in October 2021.
While the Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-stars, who tied the knot in 2014, were declared divorced in 2019, they have since been battling over such factors as custody of their children and Jolie's sale of her shares of their wine business. At the time of their divorce, the estate was said to be worth $164 million.
Pitt said in documents filed on June 2022 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court that Jolie intentionally "sought to inflict harm on" him by selling off her interests, as he claims they had agreed never to sell their shares in the company without first seeking the consent of the other.
According to People, Pitt has said that he grew the winery "into a multimillion-dollar global business and one of the world's most highly regarded producers of rosé wine" while accusing Jolie of contributing "nothing to Miraval's success."
Per Russian news outlet The Insider, Pitt's lawyers have argued that Shefler's connection "poses a threat to the existence of the business, as Shefler's Russian-linked alcohol conglomerate has been repeatedly the target of boycotts in connection with Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and homophobic legislation."
In an article published on August 2, The Insider reported that Pitt's wine continues to be exported to Russia, where it is distributed by AST International Environment LLC. The website describes AST as a "major supplier of alcohol to the Russian authorities."
However, a source with knowledge of the situation told Newsweek that shipments of the wine to Russia stopped over a year ago, on April 2023. While the wine does not currently ship to Russia, there remains the possibility of resellers and gray market sales.
While legal complaints have described Shefler as having ties to Putin, the businessman has been at loggerheads with the Russian government. Shefler, who has expressed support for Ukraine amid Russia's full-scale invasion, currently holds British and Israeli citizenship and produces his Stoli vodka brand in Latvia.
Newsweek reached out to representatives of Pitt and Jolie via email for comment.
According to Pitt's filing, Tenute del Mondo is "indirectly owned and controlled by Yuri Shefler, the Russian billionaire who controls the Stoli Group." Pitt has said that the company is "bent on taking control of Miraval."
Pitt said that Jolie's company, Nouvel, owed his business, Mondo Bongo, the right of first refusal ahead of the sale. He is now seeking damages "in an amount to be proven at trial" and wants the sale to be declared "null and void."
In previously filed court documents, Pitt's legal team accused Shefler of launching a hostile takeover of Miraval and trying to obtain "confidential and proprietary information for the benefit of his competing enterprise."
The team said: "Jolie has sought to force Pitt into partnership with a stranger, and worse yet, a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions."
Jolie filed a $250 million lawsuit against Pitt over the French estate in September 2022. Court papers accuse Pitt of making a move to "seize control" of the 1,300-acre estate "in retaliation" for their contentious "divorce and custody proceedings."
According to the suit, both stars invested tens of millions of dollars into improving and upgrading the estate. The suit goes on to accuse Pitt of squandering a fortune of the company's resources on "vanity projects," including more than $1 million on a swimming pool.
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