Jeff Shell, the previous president of Paramount Skydance, has resolved litigation with a gambler who accused him of leaking confidential firm data and who sought $150 million for off-the-books disaster PR work.
The gambler, R.J. Cipriani, sued Shell, his spouse, Paramount, Larry and David Ellison and others in March, claiming that he was owed thousands and thousands for communications work carried out underneath an unwritten settlement. Shell countersued, alleging that Cipriani was trying to take advantage of their fleeting relationship to shake him down for an undeserved payday.
The 2 sides every dropped their fits with prejudice on Tuesday. Shell and Paramount are understood to not have paid Cipriani. Paramount and Shell declined to remark. Cipriani’s lawyer, Steven Aaronoff, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Cipriani additionally alleged that he had acquired confidential data from Shell in violation of securities legal guidelines. When initially confronted with that accusation in February, Shell disclosed it to Paramount, which launched an inner investigation.
The interior probe concluded that Shell had not violated any securities guidelines, the corporate stated in April.
Shell stepped down as president in April to “focus” on the litigation. On the time, the corporate known as the allegations in opposition to it “frivolous and baseless.”
In keeping with Cipriani’s criticism, Shell had confided his perception that Paramount was overpaying for Warner Bros. Discovery in its bidding warfare with Netflix. He additionally allegedly trash-talked David Zaslav, the CEO of WBD, saying he was thought-about a “suck-up” to Hollywood celebrities.
Shell was launched to Cipriani by means of their mutual lawyer, Patty Glaser. In keeping with the criticism, Glaser sought to resolve the dispute by assembly with each events in February, at which she purportedly provided Cipriani a $150,000 “loan” that might not should be repaid. Cipriani accused Glaser in his go well with of getting a battle of curiosity as a result of she represented each events to the dispute. Each side later retained separate attorneys to deal with the litigation.
Glaser declined to remark Thursday on the decision.
In his criticism, Cipriani additionally claimed credit score for orchestrating a June 2025 article within the Hollywood Reporter about Shell’s dispute with “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The criticism argued that the article had uncovered the creators’ greediness and thus saved Paramount $1.5 billion.
“Despite this staggering benefit, Shell refused to compensate Plaintiff in any amount,” the go well with acknowledged.
