He’s been linked to a Miss World 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, Russian vodka billionaire Yuri Shefler has found himself at the center of controversy over the future of Brad Pitt’s famous French vineyard Chateau Miraval after buying a half share in a “secret” deal with Angelina Jolie, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The deal has sparked a “legal war” between the two superstars.

It’s really sad and disappointing – but not at all surprising – that Angelina secretly negotiated to sell her share of Miraval, the family home, to a complete stranger,” a source close to the actor told DailyMail.com.

But, adds the source, Jolie, 48, has become so resentful of her ex that once a judge ruled on joint custody of their six children after their acrimonious split, she sold half of the vineyard to a person she knew would be upset more Pete.

Shefler, 55, who Pitt calls a “stranger with poisonous associations and intent” — is accused of “destabilizing the winery’s operations” and, behind his back, “planning a hostile takeover” with Jolie, according to court filings. documents.

Pitt believed he and Jolie had a “mutual and binding commitment” to the $160 million venture.

But the Fight Club team was stunned to learn from a 2021 press release that its stake in the 35-room estate in Correns, an idyllic village in the South of France, was now owned by the Shefler Stoli Group spirits conglomerate.

The shocking sale of the site of Mr. & Mrs. Smith put a stranger in Pitt’s family home and threatened to ruin the reputation of his world-famous rosé wine, the actor complained in a 2022 lawsuit.

According to the publication, the Russian oligarch is the father of seven children, has three different names and was once married to a Victoria’s Secret model and then to a Miss World winner.

Born into a Russian Jewish family in Oryol, 230 miles south of Moscow, as Yuri Alexeyevich Yurasov, he later changed his name to Yuri Anatolyevich Shabalin and eventually ended up as Yuri Viktorovich Shefler.

He served as a conscript in the Red Army in the late Soviet era and became a father in his 20s.

The vodka czar graduated from the prestigious Plekhanov Institute in Moscow, studying economics in the 1990s while running a successful retail and restaurant business.

The hard-drinking Shefler thrived in the cutthroat business climate and was believed to be connected to the Berezovsky oligarchic clan, then ruling Moscow.

From 1995 to 1997 he was chairman of Vnukovo Airlines, a spin-off from the old Soviet 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, saw him as an early target, seeking to bring the famous vodka brands back into state hands, as was the case in the Soviet era.

In 2000, with Putin in the Kremlin, Scheffler’s company was taken over by the State Accounting Chamber.

“This was the first case of open privatization,” Shefler told Forbes Russia in 2015.

Shefler was accused of making death threats against Vladimir Loginov, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture who had been entrusted with the vodka brands.

Shefler fled Russia for Latvia before Putin’s security forces could arrest him, and initially operated his business from the Baltic state where he had manufacturing facilities.

While he safely left Russia – one of the first to escape a crackdown on Putin’s business enemies – he was tried in absentia for gang organisation, trademark infringement and smuggling.

Shefler moved to Britain where he obtained a British passport, while also securing Israeli citizenship.

He prospered and became a billionaire and the owner of Serene, one of the largest and most expensive superyachts in the world, which was chartered by Bill Gates for $5 million a week.

In 2017 he bought the most expensive hunting estate in Scotland – Tulchan – which has been valued at $32m (£25m) and also maintains luxury homes in Surrey, near London, St. Jean Cap Ferrat in the south of France. and Jurmala, the Baltic beach resort near the Latvian capital Riga, and a favorite “hole” for Russians.

Shefler has been married at least three times while little is known about the mother of his daughter Lada, a lifestyle blogger who was born in 1988.

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 Rublyovka [το «Χρυσό Μίλι» της Μόσχας]she was wearing a mink coat, vacationing in Courchevel and getting sadder and sadder…

“She was very ill-suited to the role of an oligarch’s wife.”

He later moved in with model Tatiana Kovylina, now 41, mother of four of his children.

She was in a Duran Duran video and advertised the lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.

He was involved in his business, having three alcohol factories in Latvia.

He proposed to her 12 years after they were together and married her a year later.

Their youngest son Yuri Jr. was born in London in May 2021 after they split, according to reports.

He was then linked to another woman, 35-year-old Ksenia Sukhinova, who was Miss Russia 2007 and Miss World 2008.

She is a graduate of Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, a model and TV presenter and former partner of 52-year-old Russian sausage king Sergei Govyadin.

In August 2022, she gave birth to Shefler’s youngest son Artem in Miami, according to reports.

Five years earlier he greeted Putin, telling him: “You are the main peacemaker at the United Nations.

However, he had spoken out against the war and now lives in France, reports say.

Pitt’s anger over the deal his ex-wife made with Shefler is clear in his legal filings.

“Shefler’s Russia-linked spirits group has been the subject of repeated boycotts in connection with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and homophobic legislative agenda,” Pitt’s lawyers argued.