Former WWE chairman Vince McMahon has been charged by the SEC for violating federal securities laws by failing to disclose settlement agreements totaling $10.5 million with two women.
These agreements, made on behalf of McMahon and WWE, were not reported to the company’s board, legal department, accountants, or auditors, causing material misstatements in WWE’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements.
The SEC stated McMahon’s actions “circumvented WWE’s system of internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements.” McMahon agreed to settle the charges by paying a $400,000 civil penalty and reimbursing WWE $1.33 million.
One settlement involved a $3 million payment to a former WWE employee in exchange for her silence about a relationship with McMahon. Another involved an independent contractor who alleged McMahon assaulted her in 2005 and derailed her career after she refused to engage in a $exual relationship.
The SEC noted that WWE overstated its net income for 2018 by 8% and for 2021 by 1.7% due to these unrecorded agreements. McMahon also violated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by not fully reimbursing WWE for incentive-based compensation and profits tied to restated financial statements.
McMahon tried to mislead the fans with a vague statement on X, where he said the case is finally closed after almost 3 years, and that he’s finally putting this situation behind him. This statement caused a lot of fans to think he has cleared his name in the Janel Grant lawsuit.
You can read his statement below:
“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.”
However, McMahon’s effort to mislead the fans was ruined by X’s community notes, which added the following context to McMahon’s tweet:
“Vince McMahon settled with the SEC without admitting/denying its findings, this was exclusively about the hush money charges. Janel Grant’s civil suit will go forward and use these findings as evidence according to her attorney.”
— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) January 10, 2025
Janel Grant’s attorney, Ann Callis, issued the following statement:
“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.
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 $exual exploitation Ms. Grant endured at WWE by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis.”
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