The WWE Board is Investigating Secret $3M Hush Payment by CEO Vince McMahon

According to a Wall Street Journal report, citing documents and people familiar with the matter, the World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) board is investigating a $3 million hush-money settlement that CEO Vince McMahon paid a former employee over an alleged affair.

A WWE spokesman who spoke to the newspaper said that the company is cooperating with the board’s investigation and that the relationship between McMahon and the woman was consensual.

The board’s probe also revealed older agreements related to misconduct claims against McMahon and another WWE executive by women who used to work at the company, the report added.

The agreement, which was struck in January, is intended to prevent the woman, who had worked as a paralegal for the company, from discussing her relationship with McMahon or making critical statements about the chief executive, the Journal added.

McMahon, 76, is married to Linda McMahon, who served as CEO of WWE and as Small Business Administration chief in the administration of former President Donald Trump, who is a WWE Hall of Famer.

The investigation began in April and also revealed nondisclosure pacts related to misconduct claims from other women who had worked at WWE.

These agreements involved McMahon and WWE talent executive John Laurinaitis, who wrestled under the name Johnny Ace, the Journal added.

The board retained Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, a New York-based law firm, to conduct the investigation, a source told the Journal. The firm didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

The WWE is publicly traded, but McMahon owns the majority of WWE’s voting shares. He took over the company from his father, also named Vince McMahon, in 1982.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.