Ari Emmanuel during the UFC 324 event at T-Mobile Arena on January 24, 2026 in Las Vegas. Zuffa LLC The busiest mogul in Hollywood might need to carve out some time on his schedule.
Ari Emanuel has been hit with a subpoena in the RJ Cipriani–Jeff Shell civil case. Cipriani’s attorneys are calling for the WME and TKO chief to appear for a deposition — lasting up to seven hours — on May 19 at their Beverly Hills law offices.
According to a series of filings — as well as a letter sent on April 9 to WME Group chief legal officer Courtney Braun and obtained by Page Six Hollywood — Emanuel is considered a “material witness” for plaintiff Cipriani in his lawsuit against Shell, who stepped down from his post as president of Paramount Skydance amid the ongoing legal drama.
“[Emanuel’s] direct communications with my client and with Jeffrey Shell bear directly on the core allegations in this action,” Cipriani’s attorney Steven Aaronson wrote to Braun. “His cooperation with the document production process, and ultimately with his deposition, will be both necessary and appreciated.”
As for the scope of what would be covered at the deposition, there’s the obvious “all communications regarding Cipriani’s knowledge of, or communications concerning, the UFC transaction.”
Cipriani’s lawsuit against Shell, Paramount principals David and Larry Ellison and board members contained text exchanges between the high-stakes gambler and the studio executive, legal papers claimed, in which they allegedly discussed a $7.7 billion deal for Paramount+ to acquire streaming rights to UFC bouts before the pact was publicly announced.
