Professional gambler and self-described “fixer” R. J. Cipriani has launched a new legal battle, this time targeting Hollywood rather than the casino industry.
Cipriani has filed a $150 million breach-of-contract and fraud lawsuit against Jeff Shell, the president of Paramount Skydance.
The case centres on allegations that Shell failed to pay Cipriani for crisis-management work and backed out of a promised television deal.
The 67-page complaint was submitted on March 9, 2026, in Los Angeles County Superior Court. According to the filing, Cipriani claims he spent roughly 18 months providing reputation-management and crisis-communications services to Shell without receiving compensation.
In exchange for that work, Cipriani alleges that Shell verbally agreed to help develop an English-language adaptation of Serenata De Las Estrellas (“Star Serenade”), a Spanish-language music reality series currently available on Roku.
The deal supposedly included co-executive producer credits for Cipriani and his wife.
The lawsuit claims that Shell later denied that the agreement ever existed.
“This case arises from the oldest form of fraud: a powerful man took everything a less powerful man had to offer, promised to repay him, lied to him when he asked about it, and then refused to compensate him at all,” Cipriani’s complaint states.
The complaint further alleges that Cipriani warned Shell about potentially damaging media stories, advised him on public-relations strategies, and helped guide coverage that cast Shell and Paramount in a more positive light.
Cipriani also claims Shell shared confidential information during their relationship, including details related to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) media-rights negotiations reportedly worth $7.7 billion, as well as discussions involving Warner Bros.
Discovery, a potential deal valued at roughly $110–111 billion.
According to Cipriani, those disclosures were reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which he says is currently reviewing the matter.
Shell’s career has previously faced controversy.
He was dismissed as CEO of NBCUniversal in 2023 following an inappropriate relationship with a CNBC correspondent.
He later returned to Hollywood after David Ellison led Skydance Media in acquiring Paramount Global in 2025.
The lawsuit names both Jeff Shell and his wife, Laura Shell, as defendants. Paramount itself is not listed in the case and has declined to comment publicly.
Shell’s attorney, Patricia Glaser, has previously dismissed Cipriani’s allegations, describing them as “riddled with clear errors of fact and law” and indicating the claims will be strongly contested.
While the lawsuit targets Hollywood figures, Cipriani is best known within the gambling world.
Operating under the online alias “Robin Hood 702,” he has been involved in multiple legal disputes with Resorts World Las Vegas and its parent company, Genting Berhad.
In December 2025, Cipriani and businessman James Russell filed a RICO lawsuit accusing the casino operator of facilitating money laundering by allegedly allowing known criminals to gamble at the property.
That action followed another legal victory in November 2025, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reinstated Cipriani’s claims of negligence and innkeeper liability against Resorts World after a lower court had dismissed them.
Both cases are still ongoing, according to reports.