Brad Pitt is Relying on an Email From a Russian Oligarch to Ex-Wife Jolie in $250M Court Battle

Even though the 49-year-old actress sold her share of the French vineyard a long time ago, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are still embroiled in a legal battle over Château Miraval. Reports indicate that Pitt is still not happy about his business 'partnership' with Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler but is holding out hope that a 'smoking gun' email could swing the $250 million case in his favor. As reported by Radar Online, court records show that Pitt filed a motion to compel Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler to disclose new evidence.

The couple had a 50/50 stake in the vineyard and are now at odds over the sale of Jolie's portion. After their heated child custody battle, Pitt allegedly claimed he was meant to have first right to buy her out, but the agreement fell through, as per The Daily Beast. Jolie allegedly changed her mind and sold it to Shefler as tensions rose during the custody battle. Pitt, though, believes the two were working together the entire time to exclude him from the deal.

In 2021, Jolie contacted Pitt to let him know that she was leaving the wine business. She wrote in an email, "I am putting this in writing so as not to get emotional. I have reached a painful decision, with a heavy heart, that I want to share with you. You know how much I wanted to buy Miraval, as a family business, as a place for us to visit together, and as a place to hold diplomatic and humanitarian meetings. Above all, it is the place we brought the twins home to, and where we were married over a plaque in my mother’s memory. A place that held the promise of what could be and where I thought I would grow old. Even now impossible to write this without crying. I will treasure my memories of what it was a decade ago." Jolie said she was on board with Pitt's decision to sell the firm and move 'away from this hard and painful chapter in our lives.' She further stated she would sell Pitt her stake in the home and company if he didn't like the arrangement.

According to Pitt's complaint, Jolie contacted him about selling her share of the company, and he promised to help her find a buyer. It was disclosed in court filings that the two had reached an agreement that would pay Jolie $54.4 million over a period of 6 years. The actress agreed to pay Pitt $7 million from the first $46 million settlement to reimburse him for a loan he gave. A change in the couple's custody dispute ultimately led to the collapse of the agreement. As per Pitt, Jolie 'chose' the Russian billionaire because she was concerned about Miraval's image being damaged by his association with Putin. Page Six reported that Shefler twice asked Pitt to invest in Miraval, first in 2016 after the couple's breakup and again in 2021 during the publicized custody battle. According to the insider, the interested parties 'secretly' approached Jolie after Pitt 'politely' rejected them, despite what Pitt's camp claims was an arrangement giving him first dibs on any transaction Jolie would make.