New federal inquiries into the hush money allegations hastened Vince McMahon’s exit from the WWE, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
According to the report, federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are both looking into the hush money payments made to resolve sexual misconduct claims. WWE hinted at investigations earlier today in their SEC filing, but they avoided to name a specific entity. In relation to the hush money payments, WWE claimed that they had received “regulatory, investigative, and enforcement inquiries, subpoenas, or demands.”
The Wall Street Journal attempted to contact representatives for McMahon and WWE, but neither responded to requests for comment. A representative for the independent directors of the WWE board also declined to comment. The SEC and the spokesman for the Connecticut office of the US attorney declined to comment as well.
It was believed that these were the law firms that just announced the class action lawsuit investigations they were conducting, or perhaps news outlets like HBO’s Real Sports, but now we know Vince is the subject of a government investigation.
McMahon made $14.6 million in payments from 2006 to 2022, according to an ongoing internal investigation, and he “has or will repay” all expenses himself. In addition, WWE stated in its announcement that it was updating its prior financial reports for the affected years.
Last Friday, McMahon left the company. The current co-CEOs are Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan, with Paul “Triple H” Levesque serving as the head of creative.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
