Paramount president Jeff Shell reportedly in talks to exit amid legal spat with Vegas gambler 

Paramount Skydance president Jeff Shell has reportedly started negotiations that could see him exit the company amid a legal spat with Las Vegas gambler and FBI informant RJ Cipriani.

Jeff Shell

In his US$150m lawsuit filed last month, Cipriani alleged Shell owes him for crisis communications services that saved Paramount millions of dollars, as well as claiming the Paramount exec verbally agreed to develop an English-language version of music competition series Serenata De Las Estrellas before later reneging.

The lawsuit also claims Shell preemptively disclosed confidential corporate information with Cipriani, including Paramount Skydance’s US$7.7bn Ultimate Fighting Championship deal, and divulged that he believed Paramount was overpaying for Warner Bros Discovery. The lawsuit is against Shell, not Paramount Skydance.

Shell, who officially became Paramount Skydance president in August 2025 when Skydance acquired Paramount, has since filed a counter-suit accusing Cipriani of defamation and extortion.

In Shell’s lawsuit, he characterises Cipriani’s actions as a “shakedown” and says he has used similar tactics in the past. “Cipriani’s playbook works like this: use a trusted mutual connection to cozy up to a high-profile target; leech to the fringes of the target’s world while manufacturing the illusion of closeness; falsely claim you have been helping the target from behind the scenes,” read the suit.

After Cipriani’s lawsuit came to light, Paramount Skydance hired a law firm Gibson Dunn to investigate whether Shell had leaked sensitive information. The results of that investigation have not yet been revealed, though reports suggest it is unlikely Shell will continue in his role as president. He could potentially shift into more of an advisory role, according to reports. He has been absent from key investor calls while the investigation is underway.

For Shell, this incident comes three years after he was ousted from his role as CEO at NBCUniversal following claims of sexual harassment and an inappropriate relationship with Hadley Gamble, a reporter at news network CNBC.

He joined David Ellison’s team in 2024 as Skydance executed protracted takeover of Paramount. His departure from the president role would be significant, particularly given that he was responsible for bringing in a large number of the company’s top executives, many of them former colleagues at NBCUniversal/Comcast.