Legal brawl that helped tank Jeff Shell's Paramount career ends

The unusual ineligible saga that torpedoed Jeff Shell’s vocation astatine Paramount Skydance has ended with a whimper.

An lawyer for Las Vegas gambler and self-styled “fixer” Robert James “R.J.” Cipriani has asked a Los Angeles Superior Court justice to disregard the scorched-earth suit helium brought against Shell successful March. Cipriani had been demanding $150 cardinal for allegedly providing “sophisticated, high-value situation communications services, wholly without compensation” to Shell implicit 18 months.

Shell’s attorneys separately filed tribunal documents to retreat a counter-lawsuit against Cipriani.

The bitter feud captivated Hollywood earlier this twelvemonth aft Cipriani went nationalist with his grievances against Shell, whom helium met astir 2 years agone done powerlawyer Patricia Glaser.

Glaser had arranged a gathering successful August 2024 betwixt Cipriani and Shell, the erstwhile main enforcement of NBCUniversal. At the time, she and Shell suspected Cipriani was down an online susurration run to dispersed rumors astir Shell conscionable arsenic helium was trying to equine a comeback astatine Paramount.

A twelvemonth earlier, Shell had mislaid his occupation arsenic NBCUniversal’s main enforcement implicit an inappropriate narration with an underling.

Cipriani claimed Shell turned to him for extortion against imaginable atrocious publicity. In his lawsuit, Cipriani alleged that, during months of on-again, off-again conversations, Shell dished delicate accusation to him, including that Paramount was poised to onslaught a $7.7-billion woody to bring UFC fights to Paramount+.

Cipriani besides alleged Shell had reneged connected a committedness to assistance him make a amusement astatine Paramount arsenic compensation for his occasional work.

Shell has agelong maintained that helium ne'er made specified a promise. He contends Cipriani, a self-professed whistleblower who goes by the grip RobinHood702 (the Las Vegas country code), was trying to shingle him down.

“I didn’t wage this feline a cent,” Shell said Thursday. “From the precise beginning, I wasn’t going to wage him a cent.”

Earlier this spring, Paramount conducted an outer reappraisal into Shell’s behaviour and recovered nary usurpation of securities laws.

Robert James “R.J.” Cipriani successful Amazon Prime Video’s 2025 series, “Cocaine Quarterback.”

(Courtesy of Prime)

The nasty spat culminated successful April erstwhile Shell agreed to resign arsenic president of Paramount Skydance to ore connected his ineligible headache.

At the time, Cipriani had widened his suit to see Shell’s wife, Laura, and tech billionaire Larry Ellison, whose lad David Ellison runs Paramount. Cipriani named others, including the Ellisons’ concern partner, RedBird Capital Partners. Cipriani’s lawyer subpoenaed amusement and sports enforcement Ari Emanuel to get grounds to beforehand the beef.

Shell and Paramount’s lawyers fought back, demanding sanctions beryllium leveled against Cipriani for an alleged overreach.

On Tuesday, Cipriani’s lawyer Steven J. Aaronoff filed a petition for “a dismissal of the full action, with prejudice, arsenic to each parties and each causes of enactment ... against each named Defendants, including Jeff Shell, Laura Shell, Paramount Skydance Corp., RedBird Capital Partners LLC, David Ellison and Lawrence J. Ellison.”

Cipriani and Aaronoff were not instantly disposable for comment.

On Thursday, Glaser declined to comment. The seasoned litigator recovered herself successful blistery h2o aft her efforts to broker a detente betwixt Cipriani and Shell spectacularly backfired.

Staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.