The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has resolved allegations against Vince McMahon, the former CEO of WWE, pertaining to his failure to inform the company’s board and others about two significant settlement agreements totaling $10.5 million with two women. These agreements were made to prevent them from disclosing possible claims against him and WWE.
In January 2024, McMahon resigned from TKO Group Holdings, WWE’s parent company, after a federal lawsuit was filed against him and another ex-executive, accusing them of serious sexual misconduct. Following the lawsuit, McMahon consistently denied any wrongdoing. His earlier resignation as CEO in 2022 was also tied to an investigation into similar allegations that were later highlighted in the lawsuit.
According to the SEC, one settlement agreement was executed in 2019, while the other occurred in 2022. Under the first agreement, McMahon was to pay a former employee $3 million, conditional upon her not revealing her relationship with McMahon and relinquishing any potential claims against both him and WWE. The second agreement involved a payment of $7.5 million to a former independent contractor for her agreement not to disclose her allegations against McMahon and to release any claims against both McMahon and WWE.
The SEC’s findings suggest that McMahon’s lack of disclosure regarding these agreements circumvented WWE’s internal accounting controls and resulted in significant misstatements in the company’s financial statements for 2018 and 2021. The commission reported that due to the undisclosed payments, WWE had overstated its net income by approximately 8% for 2018 and by about 1.7% for 2021. Upon learning of these agreements, WWE issued a restatement of its financial records in August 2022.
Thomas P. Smith Jr., an associate regional director at the SEC’s New York office, released a statement emphasizing that executives must disclose significant agreements to their company’s control functions and auditors.
As part of the SEC’s settlement, McMahon did not admit or deny the findings, but he agreed to a cease-and-desist order from certain violations, along with a civil penalty of $400,000 and reimbursement of approximately $1.3 million to WWE.
Reflecting on the investigation that spanned nearly three years, McMahon stated, “Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies… In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors regarding 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.”
Meanwhile, Manhattan federal prosecutors chose not to comment on the situation. Ann Callis, attorney for Janel Grant—a former WWE employee who filed a lawsuit against both WWE and McMahon for allegations of sexual battery and trafficking—commented that the SEC’s actions validate that McMahon violated the law in attempting to conceal his actions. She maintained that the SEC’s charges affirm that the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) McMahon allegedly pressured Grant into signing is unlawful, thus her case should proceed to court. Callis anticipates presenting additional evidence as the criminal inquiry by the Southern District of New York is ongoing.
Vince McMahon has consistently denied Grant’s allegations. A notable figure in WWE for decades, McMahon transformed the company after purchasing the then-World Wrestling Federation from his father in 1982. Initially, wrestling events were held in small venues and aired on local channels; today, WWE’s programming is hosted in professional sports arenas. The company also recently launched its weekly live program, “Raw,” on Netflix, which garnered 4.9 million views globally and reached an average of 2.6 million households in the U.S., as reported by VideoAmp.
