Hurricane Katrina was one of the most pronounced ecological disasters in American history, and when Brad Pitt started a non-profit called the Make It Right Foundation, their first stated mission was building houses in New Orleans at the Lower Ninth Ward. But the project ended up cutting corners considerably, putting the people affected by the hurricane in new health risks, and legal repercussions have followed Pitt and his foundation ever since.
At first, everything seemed to be going great. Pitt used his considerable celebrity power to invite his celebrity friends to raise funds in a concert dubbed “A Night To Make It Right.” That night alone, they were able to raise $5 million. Through other means, they also raised almost $27 million, and by 2015 they had built 109 homes in New Orleans at an average cost of $250,000 per home. They then sold each house at $150,000. The houses initially looked gorgeous and even became a tourist attraction for some time. But that didn’t last long.
Soon, new owners of the homes started complaining that the houses were forming mold. And that wasn’t even the only issue. There were structural problems — from plumbing to electricity to insufficient ventilation. So even despite the price cut between the construction cost and the purchase cost, some home buyers understandably started feeling like they had been scammed. It’s estimated that only 6 of the 109 houses were free of any defects.
This eventually grew into a $20.5 million lawsuit against the foundation. According to Yahoo! at the beginning of 2025, the foundation suffered a considerable legal setback when the plaintiffs won a motion requiring the foundation to add their financial documents to discovery. This wasn’t Pitt’s first legal loss in the case either. He has been trying to remove himself as a defendant for years, but to no avail.
Pitt has obviously been dealing with other lawsuits — the one with ex-wife Angelina Jolie being the most public-facing — but it’s clear that he keeps trying to move past them and settle out of court. Reportedly, that was also considered in this case as well. In 2022, Global Green USA agreed to pay the entire $20.5 million on behalf of Pitt and his foundation as a settlement. But according to a representative of the Ocean’s Eleven star, they were later shocked to learn that Global Green USA apparently didn’t have enough funds to cover the settlement.
Now the lawsuit has moved on to trying to depose Pitt. The only issue with that is his incredibly busy and litigious schedule. At the time he was asked to physically appear before the court, he was traveling the world with the Formula 1 teams and shooting F1: The Movie, so they argued that if he were to miss any of the shooting days there would have been considerable losses for that production.
Pitt also argued that his appearance before the court wouldn’t bear any “relevant information.” The idea that one can just endanger the lives of people in the guise of helping them has left a bad taste in some of his fans’ mouths. But as the plaintiffs comb through the financial documents, more answers will reveal themselves about how much they actually spent on the construction and, more importantly, the extent of Pitt’s involvement.
