Former Paramount Skydance president Jeff Shell has settled a lawsuit with a gambler who accused him of leaking confidential company information and sought $150 million in off-the-books crisis public relations.
Gambler RJ Cipriani sued Shell and his wife, Paramount, Larry and David Ellison and others in March, alleging he was owed millions of dollars for unwritten communications services. Shell countersued, alleging that Cipriani was trying to exploit their fleeting relationship to demand unfair salaries.
Both sides each dismissed their lawsuits with prejudice on Tuesday. Shell and Paramount are said to have not paid Cipriani. Paramount and Shell declined to comment. Mr. Cipriani’s attorney, Stephen Aaronoff, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Cipriani also alleged that he received confidential information from Shell in violation of securities laws. When first faced with the accusation in February, Shell disclosed it to Paramount, which launched an internal investigation.
In April, the company announced that an internal investigation had concluded that Shell had not violated securities rules.
Schell resigned as president in April to “focus” on litigation. At the time, the company called the allegations against it “frivolous and baseless.”
According to Cipriani’s complaint, Shell had confided in him that he believed Paramount was overpaying Warner Bros. Discovery in a bidding war with Netflix. He also allegedly told WBD CEO David Zaslav that he was considered the “worst guy” by Hollywood celebrities.
Schell was introduced to Cipriani through their mutual attorney, Patti Glaser. According to the complaint, Glaser attempted to resolve the dispute by meeting with both parties in February, during which he allegedly offered Cipriani a $150,000 “loan” that did not need to be repaid. In the lawsuit, Cipriani accused Glaser of having a conflict of interest because he represented both parties to the dispute. Both sides then hired separate attorneys to handle the case.
Glaser declined to comment on the resolution Thursday.
In his complaint, Cipriani also claimed credit for coordinating a June 2025 Hollywood Reporter article about Shell’s dispute with “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The suit claimed the article exposed the greed of the creators, thereby saving Paramount $1.5 billion.
“Despite this extraordinary profit, Shell has refused to compensate Plaintiffs in any amount,” the lawsuit states.
