Vince McMahon, Executive Chairman of the TKO Board of Directors, announced that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has joined the TKO Board of Directors during a ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange on January 23, 2024.
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this Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Friday it charged former WWE boss Vince McMahon with violating federal securities laws by failing to inform his professional wrestling company’s board of directors, representing himself and WWE with two The women reached settlements totaling $10.5 million.
McMahon has agreed to settle administrative fees and agreed to pay a $400,000 civil penalty and repay $1.33 million to WWE after agreeing to restitution. Order The SEC said it found he violated the Securities Exchange Act.
The SEC said McMahon failed to notify WWE’s board of directors, legal department, accountants or auditors about the settlement, “circumventing WWE’s internal accounting controls and causing material errors in WWE’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements.” “Report”.
One of the settlements requires McMahon to pay a former WWE employee $3 million in exchange for her keeping silent about her relationship with him and dropping potential legal claims against McMahon and the company.
The woman’s name was not mentioned. But former WWE employee Janelle Grant filed a federal lawsuit against McMahon last year, accusing him of sexual assault and human trafficking and claiming he agreed to pay her $3 million as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Grant said McMahon ultimately paid her only $1 million.
According to the SEC’s order, another deal requires McMahon to pay a former independent contractor for WWE who claimed “McMahon assaulted her and sabotaged her after she refused to have sex with him in 2005. changed her career.”
The SEC said that because agreements with women were not recorded, WWE overestimated its 2018 net income by about 8% and its 2021 net income by about 1.7%.
“Within the 12 months following the filing of the financial statements, McMahon received incentive-based compensation and realized a profit on the sale of shares of WWE common stock, which WWE subsequently restructured based on the facts set forth herein,” the SEC order said. “McMahon violated Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 by not fully reimbursing WWE or his successors for interest on these profits and incentive compensation. “
“This case is closed. Today concludes nearly three years of investigation by various government agencies. There has been much speculation as to what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be,” McMahon said in a statement to NBC News.
“As today’s resolution demonstrates, much of the speculation is misleading,” McMahon said.
“In the end, there was nothing other than a minor accounting error regarding some personal payments I made when I was CEO of WWE a few years ago. I’m glad I can now put all of this behind me.”
McMahon and his wife, Linda, are friends with President-elect Donald Trump.
Linda McMahon He served as director of the federal Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term in the White House.
Trump nominates Linda McMahon as education secretary.
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