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Former Paramount president Jeff Schell personally paid nothing to RJ Cipriani to settle the scorched earth lawsuit between the two men. Hollywood Reporter I’ve learned.
“He didn’t pay a dime,” said a person familiar with the situation. “nothing.” However, one source confirms that Cipriani was paid, and not just by Shell or Paramount.
Patricia Glaser, a veteran industry attorney who has represented both men separately in unrelated matters and arranged a meeting between the two sides in 2024, offered Cipriani $150,000 of her own money to resolve the dispute, according to his lawsuit. He rejected this offer. The attorney, who declined to comment for this story, later offered to pay more than $1 million, a person familiar with the situation said. The final settlement figure is still unknown.
At the time of their initial meeting, Shell suspected Cipriani of organizing a campaign to undermine his return to Paramount. Glaser held talks for the two sides to reach a truce.
That meeting became the basis of a lawsuit from Cipriani, who claimed that Shell sought his advice in the wake of the latter’s 2023 departure from NBCUniversal over alleged sexual harassment. The high-stakes gambler, who did not respond to a request for comment, alleged that Shell then shared confidential information with him to suppress negative stories and circulate positive coverage of Paramount. One example: Details about the timing and structure of Paramount’s $7.7 billion media rights deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship roughly a month before its August 2025 announcement
In a joint complaint, Shell accused Cipriani of exploiting access brokered by Glaser. This includes pestering him to pick up the Spanish-language Roku series Serenata de las Estrellas.
Shell said in his lawsuit that he repeatedly refused but agreed to meet Cipriani based on Glaser’s recommendation. During a confrontation earlier this year, Cipriani claimed he had been working for Shell for 18 months and demanded payment.
Shell’s cross-complaint referred to Glaser dozens of times, even though she was not a defendant in the case. Over her multi-decade career, she has represented Conan O’Brien, Harvey Weinstein, and Ron Meyer, among many others.
