Brad Pitt has claimed that former wife Angelina Jolie deliberately “sought to inflict harm on” him by selling her share of their wine company to a rival investor.

First reported by DailyMail.com, Pitt has filed legal papers with Los Angeles County Superior Court as part of a long-running legal dispute between the pair over Chateau Miraval, located in south-east France, which the pair acquired in 2008 before their marriage in 2014.

After the couple divorced in 2019, Jolie was cleared to sell her share in 2021 for $164m (£131.2m) before their wider financial settlement was finalised. However, Pitt started legal action to try to retain a majority share in the company that owns the estate.

Pitt says that Jolie is selling her share to Tenute del Mondo, a wine-making company “indirectly owned and controlled by Yuri Shefler, the Russian billionaire who controls the Stoli Group” and which is “bent on taking control of Miraval”.

The legal document adds: “Jolie pursued and then consummated the purported sale in secret, purposely keeping Pitt in the dark, and knowingly violating Pitt’s contractual rights.”

The Guardian has contacted Jolie’s representatives for a response.