Brad Pitt is set to score a major courtroom victory in his ongoing battle with ex Angelina Jolie, after a judge said she would grant the actor’s request to force Jolie to hand over non-disclosure agreements she has entered into – including the agreements signed by its staff.
The couple continues to fight over her decision to sell her shares in the $500 million company to a Russian businessman.
Pitt claims that, as part of their divorce, they agreed not to sell shares in the company without the other’s consent.
In court Thursday, Pitt’s attorneys argued that the NDAs would be “highly probative.”
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie continue to fight over the shares she sold to a Russian billionaire
Jolie sold her shares in the French winery to a Russian billionaire who controls the Stoli Group.
Judge Lia Martin said she was “inclined” to grant Pitt’s motion, which would require Jolie to turn over all NDAs she has entered into with various third parties since 2014.
“I don’t view this as a character question,” Judge Lia Martin told attorneys for both sides in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday.
‘Maybe there are agreements about that [Jolie] entered into with people who may or may not have similar conditions. The court is making no rulings today on the admissibility of the documents.’
The judge said she would deliver her final verdict on Thursday afternoon.
Jolie’s lawyers disagreed with the judge’s preliminary ruling and said Pitt’s demands for the non-disclosure agreement are being used as a weapon against the actress.
Paul Murphy, one of Jolie’s lawyers, said Pitt is seeking access to the NDAs as a tactic to cover up “years of abuse” the actor inflicted on his client and their six children.
The couple’s Miraval winery in France. The company, which is estimated to be worth $500 million, is now the source of an ongoing legal dispute
In court documents, Jolie made explosive claims that Pitt physically abused her outside of the 2016 flight when their children were present. Her lawyers alleged that Pitt had Jolie sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of an “unconscionable” attempt to control her and her interests in Miraval.
Jolie sold her shares to Russian Stoli billionaire Yuri Shefler
The years of abuse were why Jolie refused to sell her shares in Miraval to Pitt and instead sold her stake to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler in 2021, her lawyers have said in court documents obtained by DailyMail.com.
“He wanted to cover up his behavior because he couldn’t tolerate what he was covering up,” Murphy said in court Thursday. ‘Mr. Pitt’s abuse, his cover-ups and actions, his framing of his children – that’s what changed.”
Murphy asked the judge to consider several factors if she approves Pitt’s request, including limiting the release of the NDAs Jolie signed only in 2020 – 2021, and not of agreements related to her companies.
Pitt’s attorney, John Berlinski, said they should also have the right to see Jolie’s non-disclosure agreements regarding all of her companies, since actors often use their company names when signing agreements.
Berlinski also argued that the NDAs would be relevant to the Miraval case because Jolie allegedly had others, including her staff, sign “gag orders” to prevent them from talking about what they had seen while at her home worked, including her treatment of Pitt and her colleagues. their children.
“She was the one who armed the NDA and threatened to indict guards simply if they would testify,” Berlinski said during Thursday’s hearing. “That’s significant.”