The WWE board is investigating chairman Vince McMahon for a $3 million settlement he agreed to pay a former female employee with whom he allegedly had an affair, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The report says the investigation began in April and “unearthed other, older nondisclosure agreements involving claims by former female WWE employees of misconduct by Mr. McMahon and one of his top executives, John Laurinaitis, the head of talent relations at WWE.” The WSJ was unable to determine the quantity of those agreements.
The WWE board is still collecting information about the other NDAs but determined the payments totaled “millions of dollars.”
A spokesman for the WWE told the outlet it is cooperating with the board and that the relationship with the ex-paralegal was consensual.
The WSJ reported that WWE board members learned of the $3 million settlement, which was paid for by McMahon’s personal funds, in a series of anonymous emails they received from somebody who said the former employee is a friend.
The emailer said McMahon, 76, initially hired the woman at a salary of $100,000 but increased it to $200,000 after beginning a sexual relationship with her. The email also alleged that McMahon “gave her like a toy” to Laurinaitis.
“My friend was so scared so she quit after Vince McMahon and lawyer Jerry paid her millions of dollars to shut up,” the emailer wrote. The reference to Jerry is McMahon’s lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, who negotiated the deal, according to the report.
The WWE board received a copy of the $3 million agreement from one of McMahon’s lawyers on June 12, the WSJ said. The agreement provided an upfront payment of $1 million to the former employee, with the remaining $2 million to be spread out over a period of five years.
McDevitt has defended McMahon and the WWE for decades, and this is far from the first controversy they have faced. McMahon and the WWE faced federal charges in the 1990s of distributing and conspiring to distribute steroids to WWE wrestlers. A jury acquitted McMahon and the WWE in 1994.
– Aron Yohannes
