Vince McMahon Served Subpoena Before Taking Medical Leave from WWE After Surgery

As part of a filing related to the company's second-quarter earnings for 2023, WWE divulged this week that executive chairman Vince McMahon was recently subpoenaed.

According to the filing (h/t Fightful's Jeremy Lambert), McMahon received the federal grand jury subpoena on July 17, plus law enforcement agents executed a search warrant, although no charges have been brought against him.

McMahon was subpoenaed just four days before he officially went on medical leave to recover from a recent spinal surgery. Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reported that the surgery was "pretty intensive" and lasted for about five hours.

WrestleVotes tweeted a statement McMahon internally sent to WWE employees in which he denied any "intentional wrongdoing," expressed confidence that he would be absolved of any wrongdoing and noted that he is focused on recovering from his surgery:

Although WWE did not specifically mention why McMahon was subpoenaed, the company did note in the filing that it incurred expenses totaling $12.4 million stemming from a WWE board of directors investigation into the company's financial statements.

In July 2022, McMahon announced his retirement from the roles of WWE chairman, CEO and head of creative amid an investigation that found he paid millions of dollars to multiple women in exchange for their silence regarding sexual relationships and encounters they had with McMahon, along with allegations of sexual misconduct in some cases.

Per Todd Spangler of Variety, McMahon's payments totaled $19.6 million, and the board of directors determined the payments were improperly reported by McMahon as personal rather than company-related.

In this week's filing, WWE announced that McMahon agreed to "review in good faith and reimburse the company for all reasonable costs incurred in connection with and/or arising from the investigation conducted by the Special Committee, related revisions to the company's financial statements and other related matters."

It was also noted that McMahon, who will turn 78 years old this month, has already about $17.4 million back to the company.

McMahon's retirement from WWE was short-lived, as he returned to the board of directors in January and was elected chairman once again soon after.

Among the reasons for McMahon's return was a desire to help facilitate a sale of the company since he was the controlling shareholder. He did precisely that, as UFC parent company Endeavor purchased 51 percent of WWE.

As part of the agreement, McMahon was named executive chairman of the new company formed by the merging of WWE and UFC.

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