Jeff Shell, the former president of Paramount Skydance, has settled a lawsuit filed by Las Vegas gambler R.J. Cipriani, who had sought $150 million in damages. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The lawsuit, which spanned 67 pages, alleged that Shell owed Cipriani compensation for crisis communications services, claiming he provided media tips and advice in exchange for access and information. Cipriani said the two had a verbal agreement under which Shell would help develop a TV series titled “Star Serenade,” but that the project never materialized.
The filing also alleged that Shell shared non-public information with Cipriani about Paramount’s business strategy, including details surrounding its $7.7 billion UFC media rights deal and his purported view that the company was overpaying in its $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal.
An internal probe was launched by Paramount into Shell following the initial accusations. That probe later found Shell had not violated any security rules. Shell stepped down from his role as president in April regardless to focus on the litigation.
“He thought he could manipulate Shell, the President of Paramount Skydance
Corporation, into paying millions in hush money to keep Cipriani from sabotaging
Shell’s reputation. He placed a high-stakes bet that, if he concocted an utterly false tale that Shell had disclosed confidential details about Paramount’s business, Shell would pay Cipriani a ransom to keep him from going public with his heinous lies,” Shell’s initial counterlawsuit stated. “But Shell called his bluff: Shell had disclosed no such information, and he refused to pay a dime. Under black-letter California law, Cipriani’s use of threats to extract money was extortion. And Cipriani’s false and incendiary accusations in the press and to countless others that Shell had violated securities law are defamation per se.”
Paramount, Shell, and Cipriani all did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
