Vince McMahon to Pay $1.7 Million Over Hush-Money Agreements

ABLUpdated 3 months Ago1 Mins read82

Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon will pay the price for his payouts — and in this case, the price is $1.7 million. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday that it has settled its charges against McMahon related to alleged hush-money payments made on behalf of himself and the WWE. The SEC found that McMahon did not properly disclose to his then-company that he had made payments to two women ($3 million to a former WWE employee and $7.5 million to a former WWE independent contractor) in exchange for their agreement not to file claims against him. According to the SEC, this made the WWE overstate its net income in 2018 and 2021.

McMahon agreed to pay a $400,000 civil penalty and a $1.33 million reimbursement to the WWE without admitting to or denying to the SEC’s findings, the SEC said. In a statement shared on social media, McMahon chalked the case up to “minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago.” His statement also suggested that Friday’s resolution marked the end of “nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies,” noting that he was “thrilled” that he could “put all this behind” him.

However, as a community note on X was quick to point out, McMahon still faces a lawsuit for sexual assault and trafficking from former WWE employee Janel Grant. Her attorney, Ann Callis, said in a statement to NBC News that Grant plans to continue pursuing her civil suit against McMahon, WWE, and former WWE exec John Laurinaitis. “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,” Callis said, claiming that Grant’s legal team is ready to bring forward “new evidence” for her lawsuit as “prosecutors for the Southern District of New York continue their criminal investigation.” McMahon, who stepped down from WWE parent company TKO in January 2024 after years of misconduct allegations, has denied wrongdoing and claimed that Grant’s lawsuit is “replete with lies.”