Paramount President Jeff Shell agreed to exit the company after being entangled in a legal battle with a controversial Las Vegas gambler and self-styled “fixer.”
Paramount announced his departure Wednesday after the two sides negotiated an amicable resolution to the drama. Paramount said its external review into Shell’s conduct, initiated by Paramount’s board of directors, found no violations of securities laws.
Shell also resigned as a Paramount board member to focus on his legal battle, the company said.
His departure comes after just eight months on the job.
Paramount Skydance “is grateful for Mr. Shell’s many contributions and to have relied on him as a valued advisor,” Paramount said in its statement.
The veteran entertainment executive officially joined the media company with David Ellison’s takeover in August, though he had been a key member of Ellison’s team for nearly two years as the group worked to assemble the pieces of the tech scion’s growing empire. Ellison’s Skydance Media acquired Paramount and then pulled off a stunning $111-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in late February.
Shell brought substantial experience running a media company to Ellison’s inner circle, a group that included former investment bankers and others who haven’t run a large-scale enterprise.
His exit comes after the high-roller, Robert James “R.J.” Cipriani, sued Shell in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 9, alleging fraud and breach of an oral contract. Cipriani claimed that he provided Shell with “sophisticated, high-value crisis communications services,” according to his suit. He alleged Shell spilled corporate secrets, which Shell has denied, and also failed to deliver on a verbal pledge to help Cipriani develop an English-language version of a Roku TV Spanish music show.
Shell has maintained Cipriani fictionalized the two men’s dealings, then spread “false and salacious lies to extract a massive payday.” Cipriani has been seeking $150 million in damages. Shell filed a counterclaim, saying the two men met only twice and that Shell owed him nothing.
The legal skirmish cast a cloud over Shell’s tenure helping lead the company because the Ellisons wanted to stay focused on running Paramount and their Warner Bros. takeover. The company also needs to line up regulatory approvals in the U.S. and abroad.
The Cipriani controversy made Shell’s future at Paramount untenable, sources told The Times.
Paramount’s board hired the Gibson Dunn law firm to look into the Cipriani allegations. That review is complete, Paramount said.
“The facts demonstrated that [Cipriani’s] allegations do not establish a securities law violation,” Paramount said. “Mr. Shell promptly notified PSKY of these accusations and is taking forceful legal action.”
Paramount Skydance, and its board members named in Cipriani’s lawsuit, plan to respond “to the frivolous and baseless claims against PSKY and its named board members and stockholders,” the company said.
It attributed Shell’s decision to step down as “consistent with Mr. Shell’s commitment to prioritizing PSKY’s success.”
Shell’s departure comes three years after he was ousted as NBCUniversal chief executive.
NBCUniversal-owner Comcast hired a law firm to investigate him after a CNBC anchor filed an internal sexual harassment claim against him. Shell stepped down, acknowledging that he’d had an “inappropriate relationship” with the journalist, who has since left the company.
The job at Paramount was envisioned to be his second act.
Shell’s dealings with Cipriani began with an August 2024 meeting at litigator Patty Glaser’s Century City office.
At the time, Glaser represented both men and urged Cipriani to “cease” his efforts to drum up damaging stories about Shell, who was trying to recover from the scandal that cost him his job at NBC.
Jeff Shell, Paramount Skydance president.
(Paramount / Skydance)
The most serious of Cipriani’s allegations was that he made a report about Shell to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission that Shell had discussed highly sensitive Paramount information with him: Paramount’s proposed $7.7-billion deal with the UFC owner to bring the mixed-martial arts fights to CBS and other Paramount outlets. Shell, in his lawsuit, denied the allegation.
Robert James “R.J.” Cipriani in Amazon Prime Video’s 2025 series, “Cocaine Quarterback.”
(Courtesy of Prime)
Paramount’s brass hired the Gibson Dunn law firm to investigate Shell’s surreptitious dealings with Cipriani.
“Nobody believed me,” Cipriani said Wednesday. “The best thing I did was cooperate with Gibson Dunn and showed them that the texts were real.”
It’s unclear whether Ellison will look to bring in other experienced media executives or look to senior Warner Bros. Discovery executives following Paramount’s proposed takeover of that company.
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