Angelina Jolie keeps her eyes trained on the courtroom as Château Miraval’s legal battle with Brad Pitt continues to unfold, and her team makes it clear that recent rulings in Pitt’s favor have done nothing to shake her confidence ahead of the trial.
A lawyer for Jolie said PEOPLE on June 25 that the latest court decisions “have had no impact on the merits of the case, and certainly have no impact on Ms. Jolie’s case,” adding: “At this point, Ms. Jolie simply hopes to defeat the case at trial next year so that her family can finally focus their energies on healing and moving forward.”
The statement came a day after the California Court of Appeals reversed part of an earlier ruling on Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler’s role in the Miraval sale, finding it “defies credulity” that Shefler would risk nearly $40 million in a transaction in which he had no significant involvement.
A hearing on a motion to compel Shefler to testify is scheduled for July 8. The broader picture of the case is becoming increasingly complex.
A June 17 court filing revealed that a California Superior Court had already granted Pitt’s motion to compel members of the Stoli Group to testify, after his team argued that the company had direct knowledge of Jolie’s 2021 sale of Château Miraval to Tenute del Mondo, Stoli’s wine division.
Stoli executive Alexey Oliynik refused to provide documents or appear to testify, claiming he could not be compelled as a Swiss resident.
The new filings require declarations by Oliynik and other qualified persons from relevant entities to be made in London by September 30.
Sources close to both parties offer totally different versions of what prompted the sale.
A source close to Jolie said PEOPLE He sold Stoli because he hoped the company would be “an excellent global distribution partner who could help grow the business for the benefit of his children, who would inherit Brad’s share,” adding that “Pitt’s ego and obsession with control got in the way.”
A source close to Pitt responded that the ruling is “another step toward transparency about what happened,” claiming that Shefler “was a partner she chose knowing he was a partner Brad didn’t want involved in the business.”
In her own court papers, Jolie has characterized Pitt’s descriptions of Shefler as a “false and xenophobic smear campaign.”
Pitt’s team has pointed to Stoli Group boycotts linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and anti-LGBTQ legislation as reasons why the partnership was detrimental to the business he helped build.
The legal dispute began in February 2022, when Pitt filed a complaint alleging that Jolie sold her stake in Miraval in breach of an agreement that neither party would do so without the other’s approval.
Jolie countersued in September 2022, alleging that Pitt had been “waging a vengeful war” against her since she filed for divorce in 2016.
Their divorce was finally settled in December 2024. The civil trial is expected to take place next year.
