Vince McMahon, a co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, will pay over $1.7 million to settle allegations that he concealed payment arrangements linked to sexual assault charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday.
According to the SEC, McMahon made substantial misstatements in the company’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements and evaded internal accounting controls at WWE.
The SEC further stated that McMahon accepted the settlement without acknowledging or refuting its conclusions. He will reimburse WWE almost $1,331,000 and pay a $400,000 civil penalty.
Executives of the company are not allowed to sign significant contracts on the firm’s behalf and keep that information secret from the auditor and control functions. In a statement, the New York Regional Office’s Associate Regional Director, Thomas P. Smith Jr.
On Friday, McMahon issued the following statement:
The matter is resolved. Nearly three years of investigation by several government authorities come to an end today. Much conjecture has been raised on the nature of the government’s investigation and its potential conclusion. A large portion of that conjecture was unfounded and deceptive, as today’s resolution demonstrates. Ultimately, this was nothing more than a few small accounting mistakes involving some personal payments I made while I was CEO of WWE a few years ago. I’m so happy that I can finally move on from all of this.
U.S. authorities said last month that they would keep looking investigating McMahon criminally as a civil action filed by a former WWE employee proceeded.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by a DOJ official.
According to the SEC, McMahon concealed two payments totaling $7.5 million and $3 million to a female independent contractor and a former WWE employee, respectively, in exchange for their refusal to bring legal action against him.
The agency claimed that as a result, the WWE inflated its net income for 2018 by almost 8% and for 2021 by about 1.7%.
Neither payment recipient was identified by the SEC. The Wall Street Journal revealed in 2022 that McMahon had paid a former WWE employee $3 million to deny claims of sexual assault.
When that worker, Janel Grant, made shocking claims of sexual assault and human trafficking against McMahon and WWE two years later, McMahon resigned from his position as executive chairman of TKO, the parent company of the WWE, and gave up all of his responsibilities with the organization.
According to the Wall Street Journal, McMahon has spent up to $12 million over the course of 16 years to bury many claims of infidelity and sexual misconduct.
The agreement was reached as former WWE CEO and wife of Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, gets ready for Senate confirmation hearings to serve as secretary of education in President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.