Vince McMahon Reaches Agreement with SEC over Failure to Disclose Settlement Payments

Former WWE chairman, CEO and head of creative Vince McMahon reached a $1.7 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday regarding payments he made to women in 2019 and 2022.

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), one agreement saw McMahon pay a former employee $3 million in exchange for her to "not disclose her relationship with McMahon" or make "potential claims" against McMahon and WWE, while the other resulted in McMahon paying a former WWE independent contractor $7.5 million so that she would "not disclose her allegations against McMahon."

The SEC said McMahon failed to properly report the payments, resulting in WWE overstating its net income in 2018 and 2021 by 8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

As part of his settlement with the SEC, McMahon will pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse WWE with a payment of about $1.3 million.

McMahon released a statement Friday on X in which he called the issues related to the payments "minor accounting errors."

In July 2022, McMahon announced his retirement from WWE after the Wall Street Journal reported that he was being investigated for paying money to four different women as part of nondisclosure agreements to prevent them from speaking on their relationships with him and on allegations of sexual misconduct in some cases.

McMahon returned to his role as WWE chairman in January 2023 to facilitate the sale of the company to Endeavor Group Holdings, which also owns the UFC.

WWE and the UFC merged into one entity called TKO Group Holdings, and McMahon was initially named executive chairman. However, McMahon stepped down in January 2024 after former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against him in which she said he sexually assaulted and trafficked her.

Grant's lawsuit against McMahon remains active, and it was not related to Friday's SEC settlement.

The 79-year-old McMahon, who purchased WWE from his father in 1982, has now been gone from WWE for a full year, leaving his son-in-law, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, to serve as chief content officer and the public face of the company.