ESPN reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission has settled with former WWE CEO Vince McMahon over his failure to disclose two sexual misconduct settlement agreements worth $10.5 million.
The settlement agreements were brokered by McMahon in order to have the issues remain outside the purview of the public so as not to reveal potential claims against McMahon and WWE.
McMahon will pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse WWE approximately $1.3 million. By not disclosing the information, McMahon circumvented the WWE’s system of internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements in its 2018 and 2021 financial statements according to the SEC. As a result, the SEC stated that WWE overstated its 2018 net income by approximately 8% and its 2021 net income by 1.7%.
McMahon is being sued by former employee Janel Grant for alleged sexual misconduct and trafficking.
The former WWE CEO head downplayed the settlement payment stating that it “was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago…” McMahon said in a statement after the settlement was made public.
Leave a Reply