Robert Cipriani: FBI Informant Work, Resorts World Suits, Shell Feud

Robert Cipriani is a 64-year-old professional high-stakes blackjack player, self-described FBI informant, and self-styled vigilante who goes by the nickname “Robin Hood 702,” a reference to the Las Vegas area code. Raised in Philadelphia and based in Las Vegas for roughly 25 years, he came to public attention as the confidential source whose tips helped dismantle a Southern California drug-trafficking ring, and he now sits at the center of active federal litigation against Resorts World Las Vegas and a recently settled fight with former Paramount Skydance president Jeff Shell.¹

Who He Is

Cipriani says he has won eight figures at blackjack across a career of nearly five decades. Casino executives quoted in the Hollywood Reporter have called him an “anomaly” who “wins too much”; one associate said letting him play blackjack means “he’ll beat your brains out.” He describes himself as a “master of cognitive warfare” and a “lone wolf” who targets “guys that are bad guys.” Others in the gambling industry have called many of his claims exaggerated or “fringe.”²

He is married to actress Greice Santo. The two have featured together in more than one of his legal fights.

The FBI Informant Work

Cipriani’s most consequential role was as an FBI confidential human source under the codename “Jackpot.” The arrangement grew out of a disastrous gambling deal. Owen Hanson, a Southern California man running a drug-trafficking and money-laundering operation tied to Mexican cartels, gave Cipriani $2.5 million under a “staking agreement” to gamble at a casino in Sydney, Australia. Cipriani lost the money, and has claimed he lost it deliberately. Hanson retaliated with death threats against Cipriani’s family, videos of cartel executions, and the desecration of Cipriani’s mother’s grave.³

In mid-2012, Cipriani contacted the FBI’s Philadelphia office. He supplied information on Hanson and 21 associates of what investigators called “O-Dog Enterprise,” a network operating across the United States, Central and South America, and Australia between 2012 and 2016. The intelligence contributed to a federal sweep in 2015. Hanson pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and was sentenced in December 2017 to more than 21 years in federal prison, along with $5 million in criminal forfeiture. All 21 charged associates pleaded guilty.⁴

Cipriani’s role became widely public through the Amazon Prime docuseries Cocaine Quarterback, produced by Mark Wahlberg’s company and released in September 2025. Cipriani has publicly attacked the series, saying he was “hoodwinked into participation” and that it wrongly suggests he was complicit in money laundering. He notes Hanson calls him a “money laundering magician” in the show, a label he rejects. Cipriani maintains he only realized he was working for a drug lord after the fact and cooperated voluntarily, not to secure immunity.⁵

The Fight With Resorts World Las Vegas

Cipriani’s longest-running legal battle is with Resorts World Las Vegas, the $4.3 billion Strip casino that opened in June 2021. He says he gambled nearly 500 hours at the property in its first months and observed “known criminals, fraudsters, money launderers and convicted felons” being welcomed there. He says he reported his concerns to staff, the FBI, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and federal probation officers, and that the casino retaliated.⁶

The 2021 Arrest and Plea

On November 19, 2021, Cipriani was arrested at Resorts World after an altercation with Robert Alexander, another professional gambler and the co-creator of the mobile gaming company Kizzang. Cipriani accused Alexander of stalking and recording him at the casino for weeks. Prosecutors alleged Cipriani snatched Alexander’s cellphone and threatened him and his son. Alexander separately pleaded guilty in a Kizzang investor-fraud case in which the SEC alleged he stole at least $1.3 million from investors.⁷

Cipriani was initially charged with larceny. In April 2022, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson added a felony robbery charge with a special-victim enhancement. A separate felony charged him with changing a blackjack bet mid-hand. On May 4, 2022, prosecutors dismissed the robbery and larceny charges as part of a plea agreement. The cheating charge was reduced to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, to which Cipriani pleaded guilty. His probation required him to stay away from Resorts World and to stop posting harassing or disparaging content about the casino or people connected to the case.⁸

Civil Suit and the Ninth Circuit Reversal

Cipriani sued Resorts World and its then-president Scott Sibella in federal district court in Nevada, bringing claims for negligence, innkeeper liability, negligent supervision, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and concert of action. Judge Miranda Du dismissed the case in 2024, applying judicial estoppel based on what she saw as inconsistent positions Cipriani had taken in state court.⁹

On November 3, 2025, the Ninth Circuit reversed in part. The panel found the district court had abused its discretion in applying judicial estoppel, concluding Cipriani’s state and federal positions were not “clearly inconsistent” and that Resorts World had not shown he gained any unfair advantage. The negligence, innkeeper liability, and negligent supervision claims against Resorts World were remanded. The court affirmed dismissal of all claims against Sibella personally, ruling he did not qualify as an “innkeeper” under Nevada law.⁹

The RICO Lawsuit

On December 3, 2025, Cipriani and investor James Russell filed a separate 95-page federal racketeering complaint in Las Vegas. It names Resorts World, parent company Genting Berhad, CEO KT Lim, Scott Sibella, Las Vegas defense attorney David Chesnoff, and several others. The suit alleges that money laundering was “at the core of Resorts World’s business strategy.”¹⁰

The complaint alleges Chesnoff arranged and disguised investments in Resorts World for known criminals, that Sibella approved the arrangements and took a share of the proceeds, and that the casino let convicted fraudster Brandon Sattler gamble millions in investor funds without required anti-money-laundering review. Russell claims Resorts World allowed Sattler to lose roughly $10 million stolen from him and his partners. Sattler was later sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and $7.65 million in restitution for wire fraud, his fourth fraud-related conviction, and acknowledged Cipriani had gathered information about the fraud and shared it with federal authorities.¹¹¹² The plaintiffs also allege retaliation, witness intimidation, and false arrest, pointing to the November 2021 casino-floor arrest. They seek treble damages under federal law.

Regulatory Findings That Backed Him Up

Cipriani’s allegations picked up outside credibility from regulators. In March 2025, the Nevada Gaming Commission voted 4-0 to fine Resorts World and Genting Berhad $10.5 million for anti-money-laundering and recordkeeping failures, the second-largest fine in Nevada gaming history. The settlement centered on the casino’s interactions with illegal bookmakers, including Mathew Bowyer, who lost nearly $8 million over 20 months without the casino verifying his source of funds. Resorts World neither admitted nor denied the allegations.¹³ Cipriani testified at the commission hearing, telling regulators he had faced “harassment and intimidation” from Resorts World executives.¹⁴

Sibella, fired by Resorts World in September 2023, pleaded guilty in federal court to violating the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to file suspicious activity reports during his earlier tenure as president of the MGM Grand. He was sentenced to a year of probation and a $9,500 fine. In December 2024, Nevada gaming regulators revoked his license, fined him $10,000, and barred him from the state’s gaming industry for five years.¹⁵ Counsel for Sibella has called Cipriani’s allegations “a rehashing of allegations” that were “thoroughly investigated and determined to be baseless by Nevada gaming authorities and others.”⁶

The Paramount Feud With Jeff Shell

In a parallel dispute that reached the top of Hollywood, Cipriani became entangled with Jeff Shell, the former NBCUniversal CEO who had been named president of Paramount Skydance. The Los Angeles Times reported that Shell and attorney Patricia Glaser met with Cipriani in August 2024 because they suspected he was behind an online “whisper campaign” targeting Shell’s return to a top studio job.¹⁶

What happened afterward is sharply disputed. Cipriani claimed he provided 18 months of “sophisticated, high-value crisis communications services” to Shell and alleged Shell shared confidential Paramount information with him, including details of a $7.7 billion UFC media-rights deal disclosed nearly a month before its public announcement, negotiations with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and an alleged plan to raise a hostile tender offer for Warner Bros. Discovery to $30 per share.¹⁷ Shell denied hiring him, saying “I didn’t pay this guy a cent” and calling the claims a “brazen shakedown attempt.”¹⁶

In March 2026, Cipriani filed a $150 million fraud lawsuit against Shell, his wife Laura Shell, Paramount Skydance, and David and Larry Ellison. Shell cross-complained for extortion and defamation. Paramount opened an internal investigation with the law firm Gibson Dunn, which concluded in April 2026 that Shell had not violated any securities rules. The SEC also opened an inquiry. Shell stepped down as president of Paramount Skydance in April 2026 to “focus on this lawsuit,” according to the company.¹⁸

On June 9, 2026, both sides dismissed their claims with prejudice. Variety reported that Paramount and Shell are understood not to have paid Cipriani. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Shell personally paid “nothing” but that Cipriani was paid by someone whose identity was not disclosed.¹⁹²⁰

Earlier Disputes and Criminal Record

In 2017, Cipriani filed a defamation lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against G.F. Bunting & Co., the crisis-communications firm representing Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz. The underlying dispute grew out of allegations by Cipriani’s wife, actress Greice Santo, that Katz had offered her millions of dollars and a movie role in exchange for sex during a 2015 photo shoot in Hawaii. Katz denied the allegations. Bunting’s attorneys argued in a motion to dismiss that their statements accusing Cipriani of trying to extract more than $3 million from Katz were true, calling the case a “smear dressed up as a lawsuit.” A judge dismissed the suit.²¹

Beyond the 2022 Resorts World misdemeanor, Cipriani has acknowledged a guilty plea about two decades ago for insurance fraud committed while he worked as a public adjuster. He was also briefly detained around the same period after a dispute with a former girlfriend, though no domestic-violence charges were filed.¹

Where He Stands Now

Cipriani once enjoyed VIP “whale” treatment at Las Vegas casinos, including private jets and luxury suites. As of 2026, he is banned from every major gaming house on and off the Las Vegas Strip and from California’s Indian casinos. He plays instead at Los Angeles-area card rooms while pursuing the remanded negligence case and the RICO complaint against Resorts World.¹

1
The Hollywood Reporter. R.J. Cipriani Interview on Paramount, Jeff Shell, and the Ellisons
2
Vanity Fair. R.J. Cipriani, Jeff Shell, and the Paramount Lawsuit
3
Nine.com.au. Gambler With Tales of Sin City Excess Denies He Was In on Money Laundering Plan
4
FBI. California Man Sentenced for Running Drug Trafficking and Gambling Organization
5
The Hollywood Reporter. Cocaine Quarterback Gambler Tricked by Producers
6
Las Vegas Review-Journal. Lawsuit Claims Resorts World Permitted Illegal Gamblers at Casino
7
SEC. SEC Charges Kizzang Founder With Fraud
8
Las Vegas Review-Journal. Robbery, Larceny Charges Dropped in Case Against Professional Gambler
9
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Cipriani v. Resorts World Las Vegas, No. 24-7106
10
8 News Now. Racketeering Lawsuit Targets Resorts World Las Vegas
11
Las Vegas Review-Journal. High-Stakes Gambler Accuses Strip Casino of Racketeering
12
CDC Gaming. Convicted Fraudster Sattler Blames His Troubles on Gambling Addiction
13
Las Vegas Review-Journal. Resorts World Las Vegas Hit With $10.5M Fine From State Gaming Regulators
14
Nevada Current. Resorts World Fields Dream Team as Gaming Commission Signs Off on $10.5 Million Fine
15
The Nevada Independent. href=”https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/settlement-with-gaming-regulators-kicks-ex-strip-executive-sibella-out-of-industry” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Settlement With Gaming Regulators Kicks Ex-Strip Executive Sibella Out of Industry
16
Los Angeles Times. Jeff Shell-R.J. Cipriani Paramount Lawsuit Ends
17
The Hollywood Reporter. Jeff Shell Settles Lawsuit With Whistleblower
18
New York Times. Jeff Shell Steps Down From Paramount Amid Legal Fight
19
Variety. Jeff Shell-Cipriani Litigation Settlement
20
The Hollywood Reporter. Jeff Shell-R.J. Cipriani Lawsuit Settled
21
Variety. Daryl Katz, Greice Santo, Glenn Bunting