15/06/2022
Interesting development 🤔
The Wall Street Journal reports that the board of WWE is investigating a secret $3 million settlement that Vince McMahon agreed to pay to a departing employee with whom he allegedly had an affair.
The January 2022 separation agreement bars the now-former employee, who was hired as a paralegal in 2019, from discussing her relationship with Mr. McMahon or disparaging him.
The board’s investigation, which began in April, has 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 board’s preliminary findings are that Mr. McMahon used personal funds to pay the former female employees who signed the agreements, including the one involving allegations against Mr. Laurinaitis, this person said.
A WWE spokesman said the company is cooperating fully with the board inquiry and that the relationship with the ex-paralegal was consensual. He added that the company takes the allegations seriously and is dealing with them appropriately.
In a letter to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. McMahon’s attorney, Jerry McDevitt, said that the former paralegal hadn’t made any claims of harassment against Mr. McMahon and that “WWE did not pay any monies” to the ex-employee “on her departure.”
The 12-member board of directors includes several WWE executives and members of the McMahon family, including Mr. McMahon, who is chairman; his daughter Stephanie McMahon ; her husband, Paul Levesque, better known as the wrestler Triple H; and WWE President Nick Khan.
Man Jit Singh, a former Sony Pictures Home Entertainment executive, is the lead independent director and is running the inquiry, according to people familiar with it.
Board members learned of the $3 million agreement in a series of anonymous emails they received from someone who said the former WWE paralegal was a friend.
The first email, sent to board members on March 30, alleged that Mr. McMahon, 76 years old, 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 to the board also alleged that Mr. McMahon “gave her like a toy” to Mr. Laurinaitis. The board is investigating the allegations in the email, the people familiar with the inquiry said.
“My friend was so scared so she quit after Vince McMahon and lawyer Jerry paid her millions of dollars to shut up,” the initial email to the board said, referring to Mr. McMahon’s longtime lawyer, Mr. McDevitt, who negotiated the deal, according to people familiar with the board inquiry.