Paramount president Jeff Shell improperly disclosed specific details about the timing, cost and structure of the public company’s $7.7 billion media rights deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship almost a month before its August 2025 announcement — that’s the allegation of leaked confidential data that an outside law firm is now investigating, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The SEC is also now reviewing a related whistleblower complaint.
UFC parent Tko Group Holdings’ stock price surged 10 percent following news of the Paramount pact.
The reporting party is R.J. Cipriani, a high-stakes gambler with a documented history as a federal whistleblower. He’s been in settlement negotiations with Shell over a dispute involving consultation services. He declined to comment.
Both men have shared the same attorney: noted Hollywood power lawyer Patricia Glaser, who no longer reps Cipriani.
When asked for comment, Glaser said in a statement, “we were presented with a draft complaint...
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