He 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 $5 million a week.
And now his next chapter begins: Russian vodka billionaire Yuri Shefler is at the center of a bitter battle over the future of Brad Pitt’s famed French winery, Chateau Miraval, after buying a half stake in a “secret” deal with Angelina Jolie.
The deal has sparked a full-scale legal battle between the two superstar ex-boyfriends.
“It is truly sad and disappointing – but not at all surprising – that Angelina has secretly negotiated to sell her stake in Miraval, the family home, to a complete stranger,” a source close to the actor previously told .
However, the source adds that Jolie, 48, has become so upset with her ex that as soon as a judge awarded him 50/50 custody of their six children after the acrimonious split, she sold her half of the vineyard to one person , whom she loved knew it would upset Pitt the most.
Shefler, 55 – whom Pitt calls “a stranger with toxic associations and intentions” – is accused of “destabilizing the winery’s operations” and of “plotting a hostile takeover with Jolie” behind his back, according to court documents.
Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, 55, (left) bought half of Brad Pitt’s beloved Chateau Miraval after an alleged “secret deal” with Angelina Jolie in 2021. Pitt believed the couple had a “mutual and binding commitment” to the $160 million deal, and she owed him the first refusal if she ever decided to sell
An aerial view of Chateau Miraval in Le Val in south-eastern France, the winery and home Brangelina bought for $27 million
Pitt believed he and Jolie had a “mutual and binding commitment” to the $160 million deal and that if she ever decided to sell her half, she owed him priority.
But the Fight Club star was stunned to learn from a 2021 press release that her stake in the 35-room property in Correns, a quaint village in southern France, was now owned by Shefler’s liquor company Stoli Group.
The shock sale of the website that hosted the Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-stars’ wedding in 2014 “forced a stranger into Pitt’s family home and threatened to ruin the reputation of his world-renowned rosé wine,” the actor protested in 2022 in a lawsuit.
Today, can reveal the unclear background of the oligarch Shefler, who is operating freely in the West.
He is the father of seven children, went by three different names and once married a Victoria’s Secret model only to replace her with a Miss World winner.
He was born Yuri Alexeyevich Jurasov to a Russian-Jewish family in Oryol, 230 miles south of Moscow, later changing his name to Yuri Anatolyevich Shabalin and eventually settling with Yuri Viktorovich Schefler.
At the end of the Soviet era he served as a conscript in the Red Army and became a father at the age of 20.
The southern French château where the couple wed in 2014 became Pitt’s “passion” and one of the world’s most respected rosé wine producers
The vodka tsar graduated from the renowned Plekhanov Institute in Moscow, studied economics in the roller-coaster years of the 1990s while running a successful retail and restaurant business.
In 1995, a year before graduating, Shefler claims to have taken a call from billionaire Boris Berezovsky, the money man and manipulator behind then-President Boris Yeltsin.
Berezovsky was an insider tycoon who later nominated Putin as future Kremlin ruler but was ultimately destroyed by the former KGB agent before dying in mysterious circumstances in the UK.
Shefler was ordered to escort Berezovsky to an airport in Moscow before Yeltsin’s state visit.
In an interview with the Russian magazine Snob, Shefler said: “We drove to Sheremetyevo-2 and he was in the car and he said to me: “Listen, you have to help me. You know some bandits, don’t you?”
“I say, ‘Well, of course I know someone.’
“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 esteemed former editor-in-chief of the Izvestia newspaper and the founder of the New Izvestia.
The journalist angered Berezovsky with his critical reports.
Shefler told media outlet Snob, “Of course I was speechless.”
“The only thing I said to him was: ‘Borja’ [Boris]why me?’
“I was so confused I didn’t know what to answer.
“I somehow had no connection to the criminal world, [but] a normal businessman.
“It also doesn’t seem written on my face that I’m some kind of bandit.”
“Maybe he got the impression that I was young, cheeky, arrogant, tough enough.” [to kill Golembiovsky]…’
Golembiovsky died of natural causes four years later after Shefler claimed he had matched the editor and the killer.
For the time being, half of Chateau Miraval remains in the clutches of the oligarch Shefler
It was reported that Shefler was married to model Tatiana Kovylina. However, since then he has been linked to Ksenia Sukhinova (35). She gave birth to Shefler’s youngest son, Artem, last August
Sukhinova was Miss Russia 2007 and Miss World 2008
Shefler, the head of the liquor industry, thrived in the frenetic business climate and was seen as associated with the oligarchic Berezovsky clan, then dominant in Moscow.
From 1995 to 1997 he was chairman of Vnukovo Airlines, a spin-off of the old Soviet mega-airline Aeroflot.
In 1997 he joined Soyuzplodoimport (SPI), which produces 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, saw him as an early target trying to bring famous brands of vodka back into state hands, as was the case in Soviet times.
In 2000, with Putin now in the Kremlin, Shefler’s company was taken over by the State Accounts Chamber.
“This was the first case of open deprivatization,” Shefler told Forbes Russia in 2015.
“Even then, it was pretty obvious that if they went for me, they could go for both oils.” [and metals tycoons].’
His case was an early example of Putin’s sinister modus operandi.
Shefler was accused of making death threats against Vladimir Loginov, an Agriculture Ministry official who was entrusted with the vodka trademarks.
Shefler left Russia for Latvia before Putin’s security forces had time to apprehend him, initially conducting business from the Baltic state where he had manufacturing facilities.
As he safely left Russia – one of the first to evade Putin’s crackdown on business enemies – he faced legal action in absentia for organizing a gang, illegal use of brands and smuggling.
Shefler was married to Victoria’s Secret model Tatiana Kovylina, now 41, and 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 previous spouses
He was also accused of threatening to kill Loginov and charged with using the Stolichnaya label and other brands from abroad.
Shefler moved to the UK, where he obtained a British passport while also securing Israeli citizenship.
He thrived, rose to become a billionaire and became the owner of the Serene, one of the longest and most expensive superyachts in the world, leased from Bill Gates for $5 million a week.
In 2017 he bought Scotland’s most expensive hunting ground – Tulchan – at a value of US$32million (£25million) and also owns luxury properties in Surrey, near London, in St Jean Cap Ferrat in southern France, and Jurmala, the Baltic seaside resort near the Latvian capital Riga and a popular refuge for Russians.
The Surrey home in Weybridge is reportedly a seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom mansion.
In 1995, a year before graduating, Shefler claims to have taken a call from billionaire Boris Berezovsky, the money man and manipulator behind then-President Boris Yeltsin
Shefler claimed that Berezovsky (left) asked him to kill Igor Golembiovsky (right), the editor-in-chief of the Izvestia newspaper and founder of the New Izvestia, who was critical of the billionaire
It has two kitchens, an orangery, a pool complex, a gym, a large sauna and solarium, parking for 10 cars and a staff apartment.
Shefler has been married at least three times. Little is known about the mother of his daughter Lada, who was born in 1988 and is a lifestyle blogger.
A wife 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 Rublevka [Moscow’s ‘Golden Mile’]She wore a mink coat, was vacationing in Courchevel, and was getting sadder and sadder…
Pitt has previously claimed that selling Jolie to a “Russian oligarch” would potentially damage the reputation of his prized rose wine
“She was very ill-suited for the role of an oligarch’s wife.”
He later moved in with model Tatiana Kovylina, now 41, the mother of four of his children.
She appeared in a Duran-Duran video promoting lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.
She took part in his business and owned three alcohol factories in Latvia.
Twelve years after they had been together, he proposed to her and married her a year later.
“My longtime and much loved husband unexpectedly proposes to me after 12 years of anxious silence,” she posted.
“Only the closest relatives and friends are around.”
“And all this on my birthday, which I’m celebrating for the first time as a mother of three children.”
“An emotional tsunami, rated 6 on a 6-point scale.” The best things happen when you least expect them… Thanks to everyone for sharing this miracle with me!’
She has relatives from Luhansk, in Putin-held Ukraine, and spoke out against his “evil” war in February 2022.
“Like any sane person, I want to see my country free, especially free from the existing regime,” she posted.
“I really want to see the day when human rights and freedoms are respected in Russia.”
“I really want to see the time when those responsible for the deaths of thousands in a meaningless war will be held accountable.”
Angelina Jolie reportedly “sold” her half of the Chateau Miraval winery to the Shefler-led company, which owns Russian vodka Stolichnaya, also known as Stoli
Their youngest son, Yuri junior, was reportedly born in London in May 2021 following their split.
He was then linked to another woman, Ksenia Sukhinova, 35, who was Miss Russia 2007 and Miss World 2008.
A graduate of the Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, she is a model and TV presenter, as well as a former partner of the Russian sausage king Sergei Govyadin (52).
She reportedly gave birth to Shefler’s youngest son, Artem, in August 2022 in Miami.
Five years earlier, she praised Putin, telling him: “You are the most important peacemaker in the United Nations.”
“And today the world and the whole world needs you more than ever, who you have saved more than once.”
Nevertheless, she spoke out against the war and now lives in France, according to reports.
Pitt’s anger at the deal his ex-wife made with Shefler is clear from his court filings.
“Shefler’s Russia-affiliated liquor company has been the subject of repeated boycotts in connection with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his homophobic legislative agenda,” Pitt’s lawyers argued.
“While Shefler may seek to whitewash his reputation by forcing a partnership with one of the world’s most recognizable and beloved actors, working with Shefler and Stoli puts the reputation of the company that Pitt has so painstakingly built at risk.”