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A Las Vegas gambling has added Paramount Skydance and Larry and David Ellison to his lawsuit against executive Jeff Shell, who is the president of Paramount.
R.J. Cipriani claims he is owed $150 million for services performed under an unwritten contract for crisis communications services. Shell fired back on Monday, accusing Cipriani of defamation and extortion and of seeking to exploit their fleeting association to extract an undeserved payday.
Cipriani says he helped Shell by offering strategic advice and orchestrating a Hollywood Reporter article about Shell’s dispute with the creators of “South Park", Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
In an amended complaint on Tuesday, Cipriani added Paramount, the Ellisons, RedBird Capital and the members of the Paramount board to the list of defendants, accusing them of negligent supervision of Shell.
“Paramount is aware of the frivolous lawsuit and believes the claims are entirely without merit,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. “There is no factual or legal basis for any claim against Paramount, its directors or its major shareholders, and the company intends to defend these allegations vigorously.”
Cipriani had ties to one time USC standout Owen Hanson, who would go on to be charged with arranging the sale of five kilograms of cocaine and another five of methamphetamine.
That led to Hanson ultimately being named in a federal indictment as the unlikely leader of a drug trafficking, sports betting and money-laundering ring called O-Dog Enterprises that stretched from Southern California to Australia.
Ciprani was also instrumental in uncovering a sprawling investigation into various Las Vegas gambling executives in 2024 that resulted former MGM Grand Scott Sibella Scott Sibella pleading guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act violation.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
