World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Vince McMahon will pay $1.7 million after failing to disclose hush money payments made while he was the company’s CEO, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced.
The SEC said that McMahon signed two settlement agreements, one in 2019 and one in 2022, and did not disclose those payments to anyone in the company, including the Board of Directors, legal department, accountants, financial reporting personnel or auditors.
In turn, McMahon ‘circumvented WWE internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements in the company’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements,’ the SEC said, which accused McMahon of failing to disclose a $3 million payment paid to a former WWE employee and $7.5 million paid to a female independent contractor for them not going to the authorities with their sexual assault claims.
‘During his time leading WWE, Vince McMahon acted as if rules did not apply to him, and now we have confirmation that he repeatedly broke the law to cover up his horrifying behavior, including human trafficking,’ Ann Callis, Attorney for Janel Grant, a former employee who filed a lawsuit accusing McMahon of sex trafficking and sexual misconduct said in a statement. ‘The SEC’s charges prove that the NDA Vince McMahon coerced Ms. Grant into signing violates the law, and therefore her case must be heard in court. While prosecutors for the Southern District of New York continue their criminal investigation, we look forward to bringing forward new evidence in our civil case about the sexual exploitation Ms. Grant endured at WWE by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis.’
‘The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies,’ McMahon said in a statement. ‘There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be. As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading. In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.’
McMahon was ordered to pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse WWE $1,330,915.90 due to violating the Securities Exchange Act.
He stepped down as executive chairman and board member of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE, in 2024 after federal authorities investigated sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against him.
