Brad Pitt has filed a motion compelling ex-wife Angelina Jolie to turn over all private communications related to the sale of her stake in their French wine business.
The exes have been embroiled in a years-long legal battle since 2022 over Jolie’s alleged “secret” sale of her shares of their winery, Château Miraval, to alcohol company Stoli Group.
Pitt, 61, has accused Jolie, 50, of selling her shares in an effort to intentionally “inflict harm on” him.
In a surprising new development, the F1 star is seeking to depose Stoli Group’s Alexey Oliynik, a Russian oligarch who Pitt claims had firsthand knowledge of the business deal, according to a June 30 filing obtained by People.
“These requests go directly to key allegations about Pitt’s objections to the sale,” the Bullet Train actor’s legal team stated in his filing, and “easily meet the standard for discoverability given Pitt’s allegations that Jolie acted with malice in selling to Stoli, a counterparty she knew Pitt opposed.”
Oliynik has refused to hand over relevant documents or appear for a deposition, arguing that because he’s a resident of Switzerland, he could not be forced to do so, per the filing.
The Independent has contacted Jolie’s representative for comment.
Pitt’s request comes a year after he asked for the judge to strike down the Maleficent actor’s motion asking him to release third-party communications about the pair’s infamous 2016 plane incident.
The Fight Club actor’s legal team slammed Jolie’s request as an “intrusive” and “sensationalist fishing expedition.”
His lawyers claimed that Pitt had already “voluntarily offered to produce documents sufficient to show everything that occurred on the flight that precipitated the ex-couple’s divorce — the event that Jolie alleges made Pitt’s NDA request so offensive here.”
The Oscar-winning actor first sued Jolie — whom he separated from in 2016 after 12 years together — in 2022, following the 2021 sale of her share in their French winery estate.
“Jolie pursued and then consummated the purported sale in secret, purposely keeping Pitt in the dark, and knowingly violating Pitt’s contractual rights,” the suit claimed.
Jolie responded with a lawsuit of her own. In the countersuit, Jolie disclosed new details of alleged abusive behavior during a 2016 private jet ride that ultimately led to their divorce.
The Girl, Interrupted star has since pleaded with Pitt to withdraw his lawsuit in order to “end the fighting and finally put their family on a clear path toward healing.”
The former couple share six children: Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 16.
“Unless Mr. Pitt withdraws his lawsuit, Angelina has no choice but to obtain the evidence necessary to prove his allegations wrong,” Jolie’s attorney, Paul Murphy, said in a 2024 statement.
