Paramount President Jeff Shell Sued for $150 Million Over Alleged PR Contract

Jeff Shell, the president of Paramount Skydance, was sued Monday by a man who claims he is owed $150 million for crisis communications services and for Shell’s refusal to help produce a TV show.

via: Deadline

“Jeff knows he f*cked up,” an insider told Deadline this AM as the long anticipated action by Robert James “RJ” Cipriani hit the court docket. “His second act is over,” the source added of Shell, who was booted from NBCUniversal in 2023 under the cloud of misconduct with a female CNBC reporter. “Like last time, it’s his personal life that is his priority now.”

Paramount, who are not named as a defendant in the suit, did not respond to request for comment on the filing. Tellingly, Shell is at work today and in a jovial mood on the Melrose lot as we speak.

Among the minefields for Shell in the civil complaint from self-styled professional gambler Cipriani are allegations that the Paramount president had loose lips. Specifically, over a nearly two-year conversation and text correspondence between the ex-NBCU exec and the Cocaine Quarterback documentary participant, Cipriani claims Shell told him about the UFC deal the David Ellison-owned company made last year and the bitter bid battle for Warner Bros. Discovery.

The suit against Shell and his wife has the executive at one point telling Cipriani: “We’re paying way too much for Warner Bros. If we could just wait another year, we could get it a whole lot cheaper.”

In a months-long fight with Netflix, and being rejected by David Zaslav and the WBD board repeatedly, Paramount finally won the iconic studio with a $111 billon bid. Putting up $83 billion for WB’s streamign and studio assets, Netflix declined to counter the big bid after the WBD board termed it “superior” to the streamer’s efforts.

However, even with David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison’s close friendship with Donald Trump and the DOJ essentially signing off on the WBD deal, state AGs and others are poised to potentially contest it under antitrust and consumer protection grounds.