Brad Pitt has scored a legal victory amid his ongoing Château Miraval winery court battle with ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
A judge ruled on May 20 that Pitt’s motion to “compel” former Stoli General Counsel Todd Culyba for further deposition was “granted in part,” Us Weekly can confirm.
According to court documents obtained by Us on Thursday, May 28, the Michigan court ordered that Culyba will “sit for a continued deposition, for up to one hour, in person, to answer the questions identified in pages 3 through 6 of the motion, and reasonable follow-up questions.”
Pitt’s request for Culyba to receive “sanctions,” however, was denied.
The ruling for continued deposition is a win for Pitt, 62, after the judge determined that the attorneys for Stoli Group, a global leader in premium adult beverages, “improperly” blocked testimony during past deposition, according to Page Six, which was first to report the news.
Culyba was reportedly instructed not to answer 33 questions during a December 2025 deposition, which the court deemed improper guidance.
The court is now requesting Culyba return to the stand in a separate deposition related to Jolie’s 2021 sale of her stake in Château Miraval, which she allegedly sold without ex-husband Pitt’s permission amid their divorce.
The questions that Culyba initially avoided included topics such as Yuri Shefler’s involvement in Jolie’s sale of her indirect interest in the French winery to Stoli. (Shefler, a Russian businessman, is Stoli Group’s beneficial owner. He also owns Amber Beverage Group under his SPI Group umbrella.)
According to the docs, the judge ruled that attorney-client privilege didn’t extend to the “business aspects” of Stoli’s deal with Jolie, 50. Therefore, the previously skipped questions are now fair to answer.
Pitt and Jolie’s legal battle dates back to 2022 when the Fight Club actor filed a lawsuit against Jolie for allegedly selling her share of the French winery to a subsidiary of Stoli Group without getting his approval as outlined in an alleged agreement between the exes.
Jolie, who was married to Pitt from 2014 to 2016, denied the claims in a countersuit. (The exes share six children: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 19, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17.)
Us confirmed in June 2025 that Pitt requested Jolie hand over communications after claiming he was having issues deposing a Stoli Group employee.
“This is another example of the defendant’s repeated opposition to sharing documents that would provide insight,” a source exclusively told Us at the time.
That December, a judge ordered Jolie to “produce in full” the “unredacted versions” of her non-attorney communications regarding the sale of Château Miraval. The order confirmed that Pitt’s motion to compel discovery had been granted.
Earlier this month, Page Six reported that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied Pitt’s request for Jolie to overturn her private emails tied to the dispute. The judge ruled that Pitt had not met the burden of proof to overcome the attorney-client privilege claims.
Us Weekly has reached out to Jolie’s rep for comment.
