Paramount President Jeff Shell has fired back in his ugly feudwith a Las Vegas gambler and FBI informant, contending that Robert “R.J.” Cipriani has fictionalized the two men’s dealings, then spread “false and salacious lies to extract a massive payday.”
Shell filed a lawsuit one week after the high-roller had sued Shell in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Cipriani’s suit had alleged fraud and breach of an oral contract tied to his claims that Shell failed to deliver on a verbal pledge to help him develop an English-language version of a Spanish music show that streams on Roku TV. Cipriani has been seeking $150 million in damages.
However, Shell’s lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges he was the victim of extortion and defamation.
“R.J. Cipriani did not come to Court to enforce some purported oral agreement. He came to complete a shakedown,” according to Shell’s counter-claim lawsuit. “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.”
Shell contends that Cipriani demanded compensation for his unsolicited efforts, then sought to “weaponize that fiction,” followed by a threat of public exposure to extract an alleged payday.
The move comes as Shell faces scrutiny after his Paramount bosses hired a law firm to investigate his surreptitious dealings with Cipriani, a self-styled “fixer.” Investigators have been reviewing whether Shell leaked sensitive corporate secrets during his association with Cipriani, who volunteered to be Shell’s “crisis PR” consultant.
Shell denied the claim in his lawsuit.
“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.”
High-powered attorney Patty Glaser introduced Cipriani to Shell during an August 2024 meeting. Both men were clients at the time, and she and Shell had reason to believe Cipriani was attempting to stir up negative press coverage about Shell to scuttle his comeback after his ouster from NBCUniversal, where he served as chief executive for three years.
Shell’s lawsuit was brought by Steven Olson of O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles.
Shell officially joined Paramount with David Ellison’s takeover in August but he had been part of Ellison’s team for nearly two years as they laid the groundwork to assemble the pieces of Ellison’s growing empire, first by acquiring Paramount and then Warner Bros. Discovery.
The longtime media executive also serves as a member of Paramount’s board.
Cipriani and his attorney were not immediately available for comment.
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