A self-proclaimed crisis communications advisor to Paramount Skydance president Jeff Shell is claiming to possess intimate knowledge of the negotiations between Larry Ellison and President Donald Trump regarding the bidding war for Warner Bros. R.J. Cipriani, the advisor, alleges that Shell informed him that Trump personally assured Ellison that the government would intervene in Netflix’s proposed acquisition of the studio, with the goal of ensuring that Paramount emerged victorious.
"Larry, it looks like Netflix is gonna get Warner Bros., but if you really, really want it, Larry, I’ll make sure you get it," Trump said, according to an amended complaint filed on Tuesday. However, a source familiar with the situation at Paramount finds it unlikely that Shell would be aware of these discussions between Trump and Larry Ellison, noting that the executive did not participate in negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery.
The disclosure laid the groundwork for Cipriani to name Larry and David Ellison, Paramount, RedBird Capital, and the Paramount board in his lawsuit against Shell for allegedly failing to properly oversee the executive. The lawsuit accuses Shell of reneging on a deal involving a TV show but tells a much broader story of the government influencing Paramount's business dealings.
Recent Paramount moves mentioned in the complaint include an agreement to distribute Brett Ratner's Rush Hour 4, tapping Max Landis, a screenwriter canceled during the height of the #MeToo movement in the late 2010s, to work on a treatment for a feature adaptation of G.I. Joe (the project is no longer moving forward), and facilitating Johnny Depp's return to Hollywood by casting him in Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol.
"President Trump's personal intervention to direct the Ellisons' business decisions regarding Rush Hour 4 is not an isolated incident," writes Steven Aaronoff, a lawyer for Cipriani, in the complaint. "It constitutes the second documented instance—alongside Shell's verbatim account of President Trump's direct assurance to Lawrence Ellison regarding the WBD acquisition—of presidential-level direction of Ellison business decisions at Paramount."
In a statement, Paramount said it's "aware of the frivolous lawsuit and believes the claims are entirely without merit." It added, "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, the high-stakes gambler at the center of the dispute, last month sparked an internal investigation and SEC inquiry into Shell for allegedly disclosing details about the timing and structure of the UFC deal almost a month before its August 2025 announcement. Before that, he had been acting in an informal public relations capacity for the executive, according to his telling of events.
On Monday, Shell filed a cross complaint against Cipriani for defamation and extortion. The lawsuit accuses the gambler of advancing an "utterly false tale" that the executive improperly disclosed confidential details about the company's business dealings in an "extortionate campaign" to leverage a lucrative settlement.
Paramount is conducting an internal investigation led by Nick Hanna, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California during Trump's first term, into Shell. Cipriani is cooperating in the probe. Hanna will "see the meta [data], including the time of the texts," Cipriani tells The Hollywood Reporter. "So, Jeff's argument about the authenticity of the texts is obliterated."
