Vince McMahon To Repay WWE $1.3 Million
Vince McMahon has been charged with “violating federal securities laws.”
As first reported by CNBC, The Securities and Exchange Commission said Vince McMahon had failed to inform WWE’s board of settlement agreements totaling $10.5 million during his time with the company. The agreements were between McMahon and two unnamed women.
In response, McMahon agreed to pay a $400,000 civil penalty while reimbursing WWE a further $1.33 million after “consenting to an order finding that he violated the Securities Exchange Act.”
The SEC noted that McMahon “circumvented WWE’s system of internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements in WWE’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements.”
According to the SEC, as the agreements were unrecorded, WWE overstated its net income by around 8% in 2018 and 1.7% in 2021.
One of the settlement agreements obligated McMahon to pay $3 million to an unnamed former WWE employee in exchange for her silence about a relationship with the pair. In the lawsuit filed by Janel Grant in January 2024, she claimed that McMahon had agreed to pay her $3 million as part of a non-disclosure agreement, but only paid her $1 million.
Vince McMahon Looking To Move On
In a statement to NBC News, McMahon described his actions as a “minor accounting error,” adding that he’s thrilled to put the controversy behind him.
“The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. 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.”
On January 3rd, new filings revealed that Janel Grant is planning to amend the lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis. The updated complaint will be filed on January 15th, 2025, a little under a year after the original suit was filed.
The original lawsuit contains allegations of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
Both McMahon and Laurinaitis continue to deny any wrongdoing.