Brad Pitt accused of 'looting' winery assets, acting 'like a petulant child' in legal battle
The legal battle over over Chateau Miraval, the French winery once owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, is heating up again.
On Monday, new documents filed in California court accused Pitt of "looting" and "stripping" the Chateau's assets in an effort to hold control of the property, according to a complaint obtained by USA TODAY.
USA TODAY has reached out to attorneys for Pitt, Jolie and Nouvel.
The new complaint was made by Nouvel, Jolie's former investment firm, which holds what was once her 50% stake in the winery. Pitt's firm Mondo Bongo owns the other 50%. Nouvel seeks $350 million in damages. The group said "Pitt masterminded a so-far-successful plan to seize de facto control of Chateau Miraval, despite lacking a controlling ownership interest. He has frozen Nouvel out of Chateau Miraval and treats it as his personal fiefdom."
They continued that Pitt wasted the company's money. Adding he spent "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 reads.
Nouvel lawyers claimed that Pitt's "misconduct" was elevated after Jolie sold Nouvel in October of 2021.
"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 reads.
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The former couple purchased the winery in 2008, according to CNN, and have recently been locked in a legal dispute over the property.
Pitt filed a lawsuit in February 2022 claiming that Jolie's sale of the property was not lawful, adding that when they purchased the Chateau together, they decided not to sell before agreeing together on the move.
Jolie answered with a countersuit and said they never agreed on that. She added that she sold her part of the winery in order to gain "financial independence" from the "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" actor. She added that the move was to help her “have some form of peace and closure to this deeply painful and traumatic chapter of her and their children’s lives," according to CNN.
The legal dispute escalated in October when Jolie opened up about abuse she said she and her children suffered at the hands of her ex-husband on a flight.
In a suit filed at the time by Jolie's lawyers in the couple's legal battle over the winery, the actress alleged Pitt choked one of their children and hit another during a 2016 flight on a private jet five days before Jolie filed for divorce.
The allegations of abuse on the plane first became public shortly after the flight, but reports were initially vague and details were kept sealed in divorce documents and investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, both of which took no action against Pitt. Pitt has never been charged in relation to the alleged plane incident.
His lawyer said at the time that he would respond in court to allegations from Jolie, saying he has taken responsibility for his actual actions but not all aspects of her story that were not true.
Contributing: Charles Trepany
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brad Pitt 'acted like a child' over Angelina Jolie winery: lawsuit
