According to a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon reportedly agreed to pay more than $12 million in “hush money” to four women in order to cover up claims of sexual misbehavior and infidelity made over the course of the past 16 years.
According to people familiar with the deals and documents examined by WSJ, the payouts were made to four women who had previously been associated with WWE and who all signed agreements with McMahon prohibiting them from speaking about any possible legal claims they may have against him or their relationships with him.
A former wrestler who claimed McMahon coerced her into having oral sex with him, demoted her, and finally chose not to extend her contract in 2005 after she refused to have more sexual encounters reached a $7.5 million payment as one of the previously unreported settlements. According to the sources acquainted with the situation, the wrestler and her lawyer met McMahon in 2018 and negotiated the money in exchange for her silence.
According to people familiar with her 2008 nondisclosure agreement, in another previously undisclosed arrangement, a WWE contractor supplied the company with unsolicited nude images of McMahon that she reported getting from him, and stated that he had sexually harassed her on the job. According to the sources, Vince agreed to pay her about $1 million.
In addition, in a 2006 agreement, a former manager who had worked for Vince for ten years before the alleged start of a sexual connection with her was reportedly given $1 million to remain silent about it.
An alleged $3 million “hush pact” between Vince and a former WWE paralegal with whom he supposedly had an affair was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal. The current WWE Board of Directors inquiry into Vince and the head of WWE Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis, resulted from it.
The Board is currently looking into the agreement from 2018 with the former wrestler and the previously disclosed agreement with the paralegal.
It has been reported that The Board is now looking into a $1.5 million nondisclosure agreement reached in 2012 with an employee involving misconduct claims against Laurinaitis. It has been known that The Board is also looking into whether Laurinaitis had a sexual relationship with the same former paralegal.
Prior to being forced to step down and take a smaller role in 2012, Laurinaitis served as the head of talent relations for eight years. According to those aware of the NDA, his demotion occurred about the same time as the $1.5 million settlement with the employee who claimed to have had an affair with Laurinaitis and that he demoted her after she broke it off.
Regarding the former paralegal, Vince allegedly met her at the condo complex where both of them were residing in Stamford, Connecticut. She was hired by the company in 2019 as a legal assistant despite having never applied for the position, according to sources familiar with the situation. She was apparently assigned to the legal division by WWE because her CV indicated that she had attended law school.
According to one of the people, the woman allegedly discussed her close relationship with Vince with coworkers in the department frequently, to the point that her employer allegedly requested her to stop because she was upsetting other workers.
The woman was transferred in 2021 from the legal division to Talent Relations under Laurinaitis, who took over the position he had previously held.
According to those familiar with the situation, WWE proposed increasing the woman’s annual salary from $100,000 to approximately $300,000 at McMahon’s request. The business decided on a director-level post with a basic compensation of $200,000. According to an anonymous email addressed to the Board on March 30 of this year that was seen by WSJ, McMahon upped the woman’s pay after they started dating. The email alleged that McMahon “gave her like a toy” to Laurinaitis.
The WSJ was unable to determine whether the nondisclosure agreements involving the contractor and the former manager are part of the Board investigation or how far back the investigation will go. The independent directors of the Board declined to respond through a spokesperson. Requests for a response from Laurinaitis and a lawyer for McMahon went unanswered.
WWE is helping with the Board’s investigation, as we’ve already mentioned. The connection between Vince and the paralegal was consensual, according to a WWE representative, who also said that the company is treating the accusations seriously. Jerry McDevitt, McMahon’s longstanding legal advisor, had claimed that the former paralegal had not accused McMahon of harassing her and that “WWE did not pay any monies” to the former employee “on her departure.”
The Board’s outside counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP launched the investigation after receiving a string of anonymous emails earlier this year, as previously disclosed.
As PWMania.com previously reported, it was disclosed on Wednesday, June 15 that Vince was the subject of an investigation by the WWE Board of Directors regarding the “hidden $3 million payment” he had given to the former paralegal employed in 2019. The involvement of Laurinaitis is also under investigation, and the Board is also looking into other incidents involving former female employees.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
