Details Of Vince McMahon's Agreement To Pay Legal Fees For WWE Stockholder Lawsuit

For over a year now, former WWE owner Vince McMahon has been embroiled in a scandal revolving around hush money payments over alleged sexual misconduct. According to a recent SEC filing, McMahon agreed to pay $2 million to the plaintiffs in a stockholder lawsuit that originated back in January, meant to cover legal fees. That sum is in addition to the $17.4 million that McMahon was forced to pay back to the company to cover the cost of the investigation into his actions, which was one of the points of the lawsuit. The larger sum was ordered by the court back in March, while the $2 million amount was agreed to in May.

The suit, filed by WWE stockholders Carole Casale and Chrystal Lavalle in January, also sought to address McMahon's changing of the company's bylaws, allowing him to appoint himself back to the Board of Directors after stepping down in 2022. Once the nature of the lawsuit became clear, McMahon reverted the bylaws to the previous iteration, rendering that aspect of the lawsuit no longer relevant.

This isn't the end of the road for McMahon in terms of legal trouble. It was reported that McMahon had been served with a federal search warrant as well as a subpoena from a Grand Jury in July.

The ongoing scandal broke last April when the Wall Street Journal published an expose looking into an internal WWE investigation into McMahon. It was alleged that McMahon had an affair with a company paralegal and after the relationship ended, McMahon paid the woman $3 million in return for signing a non-disclosure agreement. From there, further reports began to emerge, with McMahon being accused of crimes as serious as rape.

McMahon stepped down as the company's CEO in June of that year and officially announced his retirement the following month, with son-in-law Paul "Triple H" Levesque taking over WWE's creative reins. However, McMahon's retirement wouldn't last terribly long. The then-77-year-old reportedly settled a number of lawsuits against him and then reinstated himself to the board, announcing that WWE was up for sale and he'd be overseeing the process.

A few months later, McMahon made good on his word, as it was announced that WWE would be merging with the UFC under the banner of Endeavor. Just last month, the merger was made official, with both companies now existing together as TKO Group Holdings, Inc., while McMahon still retains his prominent role as Executive Chairman.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).