Pitt says Jolie sought to harm him with vineyard sale

Angelina Jolie "sought to inflict harm" on her former husband Brad Pitt when she sold her stake in their co-owned vineyard to a Russian oligarch, new legal documents have claimed.

Pitt is suing his ex-wife for selling her stake in the French vineyard they bought together in 2008.

He said her decision to sell her share to a Russian oligarch forced him into partnership with "a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions".

Jolie has not yet publicly commented.

The couple purchased a controlling interest in Chateau Miraval SA, a French company comprising a home and vineyard in the south of France, in 2008.

The A-list pair got married there six years later.

Pitt says he and his former wife agreed not to sell their stakes in the venue without the permission of the other.

In legal documents obtained by the PA news agency, it's alleged that Jolie sold her share to to a Luxembourg-based spirits manufacturer controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler, without Pitt's knowledge.

'Contributed nothing'

The lawsuit claims the sale helped launch a "hostile" takeover of the wine business that the actor had "carefully built".

Pitt's lawyers said that under his stewardship, the business had grown into a "multimillion-dollar international success story" though Jolie had "contributed nothing".

"Through the purported sale, Jolie sought to inflict harm on Pitt," according to the documents, which were filed last week.

"Jolie knew and intended that Shefler and his affiliates would try to control the business Pitt had built and to undermine Pitt's investment in Miraval."

Source: BBC