He has bedded both a Miss World winner and a Victoria’s Secret model, clashed with Vladimir Putin, and leased one of the world’s largest superyachts to Bill Gates for $5million a week.
And now for his next chapter, Russian vodka billionaire Yuri Shefler has placed himself at the center of a bitter battle over the future of Brad Pitt’s celebrated French vineyard Chateau Miraval after he bought a half share in a ‘secret’ deal with Angelina Jolie.
The deal has triggered an all-out legal war between the two superstar exes.
‘It is really sad and disappointing – but not at all surprising – that Angelina secretly negotiated to sell her interest in Miraval, the family home, to a complete stranger,’ a source close to the actor has previously told DailyMail.com.
But, the source adds, Jolie, 48, has become so resentful of her ex that as soon as a judge awarded him 50/50 custody of their six children following their acrimonious split, she sold up her half of the vineyard to a person she knew would most upset Pitt.
Shefler, 55 – who Pitt calls ‘a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions’ – is accused of ‘destabilizing the winery’s operations’ and, behind his back, ‘plotting a hostile takeover’ with Jolie, according to court papers.
Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, 55, (left) bought half of Brad Pitt’s beloved Chateau Miraval following an alleged ‘secret deal’ with Angelina Jolie in 2021. Pitt believed the pair had a ‘mutual and binding commitment’ to the $160million business and that she owed him first refusal if she ever decided to sell
An aerial view of Chateau Miraval in Le Val, southeastern France, the winery and home that Brangelina bought for $27 million
Pitt believed he and Jolie had a ‘mutual and binding commitment’ to the $160million business and that she owed him first refusal if ever she decided to sell her half.
But the Fight Club hunk was stunned to learn from a 2021 press release that her share in the 35-room estate in Correns, an idyllic village in the South of France, now belonged to Shefler’s spirits conglomerate Stoli Group.
The shocking sale of the site of the Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-stars’ 2014 wedding ‘forced a stranger’ into Pitt’s family home and threatened to trash the reputation of his globally renowned rosé wine, the actor protested in a 2022 lawsuit.
Today, DailyMail.com can reveal the murky background of oligarch Shefler who operates freely in the West.
He is the father of seven kids, he has gone under three different names, and once married a Victoria’s Secret model only to replace her with a Miss World winner.
He was born into a Russian Jewish family in Oryol, 230 miles south of Moscow, as Yuri Alexeyevich Yurasov, later changing his name to Yuri Anatolyevich Shabalin and finally settling on Yuri Viktorovich Shefler.
He served as a conscript in the Red Army late in the Soviet era, and was a dad by the age of 20.
The South of France chateau, where the couple wed in 2014, became Pitt’s ‘passion’ and one of the world’s most highly-regarded producers of rosé wine
The vodka tsar graduated from the prestigious Plekhanov Institute in Moscow, studying economics in the rollercoaster 1990s, at the same time as running a successful retail and restaurant business.
In 1995, one year before be graduated, Shefler claims to have taken a phone call from billionaire Boris Berezovsky, the moneyman and manipulator behind then-President Boris Yeltsin.
Berezovsky was an insider tycoon who would later anoint Putin as future Kremlin ruler yet ultimately be crushed by the former KGB operative before dying in unexplained circumstances in the UK.
Shefler was ordered to accompany Berezovsky to an airport in Moscow ahead of a Yeltsin state visit.
In an interview with Russian magazine Snob, Shefler said: ‘We were driving to Sheremetyevo-2, and he was in the car telling me this: “Listen, you have to help me. You know some bandits, don’t you?”
‘I say, “Well, I know someone, of course”.
‘I had a restaurant [named] ‘Sadko’. This was such a time, it was impossible not to know [gangsters].
‘He tells me: “You have to help me. You have to kill Golembiovsky”.’
Igor Golembiovsky was the highly-respected former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Izvestia, and founder of New Izvestia.
The journalist annoyed Berezovsky with his critical reports.
Shefler told Snob media outlet: ‘Of course, I was speechless.
‘The only thing I said to him was, “Borya [Boris], why me?”
‘I was so confused that I didn’t know what to answer.
‘I somehow wasn’t connected with the criminal world, [but] a normal businessman.
‘It doesn’t seem to be written on my face either that I’m some kind of bandit.
‘Maybe he had the impression that I was young, impudent, arrogant, tough enough [to kill Golembiovsky]…’
Golembiovsky would die four years later of natural causes after Shefler claimed he had brought the editor and killer together.
For now, half of Chateau Miraval remains in the clutches of oligarch Shefler
Shefler was reported to be married to a model Tatiana Kovylina (left). However, he has since been linked to Ksenia Sukhinova, 35 (right). She gave birth to Shefler’s youngest son, Artem, last August
Sukhinova was Miss Russia 2007, and Miss World 2008
Liquor supremo Shefler thrived in the wild business climate and was seen as being linked to the Berezovsky oligarchical clan, then dominant in Moscow.
From 1995 to 1997 he was chairman of Vnukovo Airlines, a spin-off from old Soviet mega-carrier Aeroflot.
In 1997 he switched to Soyuzplodoimport (SPI), which makes the legendary Stolichnaya vodka and 380 other brands.
Shefler has a daughter named Lada, born in 1988, a lifestyle blogger. Little is known about her mother
Putin, as head of the FSB and prime minister, viewed him as an early target, seeking to repatriate famous name vodka trademarks to state hands, as they had been in Soviet times.
In 2000, with Putin now in the Kremlin, Shefler’s company was taken over by the state’s Accounts Chamber.
‘This was the first case of open de-privatization,’ Shefler told Forbes Russia in 2015.
‘Even then it was quite obvious that if they came for me, they would be able to come for both oil [and metals tycoons].’
His case was an early example of Putin’s murky way of operating.
Shefler was accused of making death threats against Vladimir Loginov, an Agriculture Ministry official who had been trusted with the vodka trademarks.
Shefler left Russia for Latvia before Putin’s security forces had time to detain him, and initially operated his businesses from the Baltic state where he had production facilities.
While safely out of Russia – one of the first to escape from Putin’s clampdown on business enemies – he was hit with in absentia legal action for organizing a gang, illegal use of trademarks and smuggling.
Shefler was married to Victoria’s Secret model Tatiana Kovylina, now 41, the mother of four of his children
Shefler has been married at least three times, with Elena Litueva, the mother of his son Alexei, among his former spouses
He was also charged with threatening to kill Loginov, and pursued over his use from abroad of the Stolichnaya label and other brands.
Shefler moved to Britain where he obtained a UK passport, while also securing Israeli citizenship.
He thrived and rose to billionaire status and became the owner of Serene, one of the longest and most expensive superyachts in the world, which was leased by Bill Gates for $5million a week.
In 2017 he purchased the most expensive hunting estate in Scotland – Tulchan – which has been valued at $32million (£25 million), and also keeps luxury homes in in Surrey, near London, at St. Jean Cap Ferrat in the south of France, and Jurmala, the Baltic beach resort close to the Latvian capital, Riga, and a favored bolt hole for Russians.
The Surrey home in Weybridge, is a seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom mansion, say reports.
In 1995, one year before be graduated, Shefler claims to have taken a phone call from billionaire Boris Berezovsky, the moneyman and manipulator behind then-President Boris Yeltsin
Shefler claimed Berezovsky (left) had asked him to kill Igor Golembiovsky (right), the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Izvestia, and founder of New Izvestia who was critical of the billionaire
It boasts two kitchens, an orangery, a pool complex, a gym, huge sauna and solarium, parking for 10 cars and a staff flat.
Shefler has been married at least three times. Little is known of the mother of his daughter Lada, a lifestyle blogger born in 1988.
One spouse was Elena Litueva, mother of his son Alexei, born in 2001, who studied in London and later served in the Russian army.
Tatiana Oleinik, deputy editor-in-chief of Maxim magazine, said: ‘Lena lived in a house on Rublyovka [Moscow’s ‘Golden Mile’], wore a mink coat, vacationed in Courchevel and became sadder and sadder…
Pitt has previously alleged that Jolie’s sale to a ‘Russian oligarch’ would potentially tarnish the reputation of its highly regarded rosé
‘She was very poorly suited to the role of the wife of an oligarch.’
Later he moved in with model Tatiana Kovylina, now 41, the mother of four of his children.
She was featured in a Duran Duran video and advertised lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.
She participated in his businesses, owning three alcohol plants in Latvia.
He proposed to her 12 years after they had been together and married her a year later.
‘My long and dearly beloved man unexpectedly proposes to me after 12 years of anxious silence,’ she posted.
‘Only the closest relatives and friends are nearby.
‘And all this on my birthday, which I first celebrate as a mother of three children.
‘An emotional tsunami with a score of six on a six-point scale. The best things happen when you don’t expect them… Thanks to everyone who shared this miracle with me!’
She has relatives from Luhansk, in Putin-occupied Ukraine, and spoke out against his ‘evil’ war in February 2022.
‘Like every sensible human being, I want to see my country free, first of all free from the existing regime,’ she posted.
‘I very much want to live to the day when human rights and freedoms will be respected in Russia.
‘I really want to see the time when those responsible for the death of thousands of people in a meaningless war will be held responsible.’
Angelina Jolie ‘purportedly sold’ her half of Chateau Miraval winery to the company run by Shefler, which owns Russian vodka Stolichnaya, aka Stoli
Their youngest son Yuri junior was born in London in May 2021 after they split, according to reports.
He was then linked to another woman Ksenia Sukhinova, 35, who was Miss Russia 2007, and Miss World 2008.
A graduate of Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, she is a model and TV host, and former partner of Russian sausage king Sergei Govyadin, 52.
In August 2022, she gave birth to Shefler’s youngest son Artem in Miami, according to some reports.
Five years earlier she hailed Putin, telling him: ‘You are the main peacemaker in the United Nations.
‘And today, more than ever, the world and the whole world needs you, which you have saved more than once.’
Yet she had spoken against the war and now lives in France, say reports.
Pitt’s anger at the deal his ex-wife made with Shefler is clear in his legal filings.
‘Shefler’s Russia-affiliated spirits conglomerate has been the subject of repeated boycotts in connection with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and homophobic legislative agenda,’ Pitt’s lawyers argued.
‘While Shefler may be seeking to launder his reputation by forcing a partnership with one of the world’s most well-known and popular actors, affiliation with Shefler and Stoli jeopardizes the reputation of the business that Pitt so carefully built.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk