Originally published at Vince McMahon fined $400,000 by SEC, ordered to reimburse WWE for additional $1.3 milllion
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that Vince McMahon has agreed to settle charges related to undisclosed agreements he executed on behalf of WWE when he was the company’s CEO and Chairman. The government entity that oversees disclosures of publicly traded companies found that McMahon “violated the Securities and Exchange Act by knowingly circumventing WWE’s internal accounting controls and that he directly or indirectly made or caused to be made false or misleading statements to WWE’s auditor.”
As a result, McMahon has been fined $400,000 and will reimburse WWE for $1,330,915,90, according to the SEC’s press release. While not admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, the agency’s statement said McMahon also agreed to cease and desist from violating the government rules.
These agreements, signed in 2019 and 2022, caused WWE to improperly report its financial statements to the SEC for 2018 and 2021.
The 2019 agreement was for $7.5 million in exchange for an independent contractor’s agreement not to disclose her allegations against McMahon and to release him and WWE of any claims. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2022 that McMahon agreed to pay a former WWE talent, whose name has not been disclosed, $7.5 million as part of a nondisclosure settlement.
The 2022 agreement, for $3 million, was presumably with former WWE paralegal Janel Grant, though the SEC’s statement does not name her.
The errors in WWE’s financial reporting caused the company to overstate its net income by 8% in 2018, the SEC stated, and by 1.7% in 2021.
McMahon provided a statement to POST Wrestling seeming to undermine the notion, reported in 2024 by the Wall Street Journal, that the Southern District of New York (SDNY) was investigating him related to allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking.
“The case is closed,” McMahon claimed.
“Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be. As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading.”
A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined our request on Friday for comment.
McMahon added: “In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.”
McMahon’s representatives have not yet responded to a follow-up question from POST regarding whether McMahon denies being under investigation by the SDNY for sex trafficking and sexual assault claims.
POST Wrestling has also requested comment from Grant’s representatives.
We will update this report with any additional comments from either party if they are provided.
McMahon, WWE, and former executive John Laurinaitis are defendants in an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by Janel Grant in January 2024, which alleges McMahon trafficked and sexually assaulted her, and that McMahon and Laurinaitis also assaulted her in WWE headquarters, among other claims. The defendants are currently seeking to have the lawsuit moved out of public court and into private arbitration pursuant to a clause in the agreement signed by McMahon and Grant.
