The former WWE CEO has said he is ‘thrilled’ to put the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Committee behind him but WWE fans don’t want him to return to the company he co-founded
Vince McMahon has responded to the verdict of an investigation into his failure to disclose two settlement agreements. The former WWE CEO has said he’s “thrilled” to put it all behind him, but wrestling fans are adamant they don’t want him back.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says it has settled charges against McMahon, 79, over his failure to disclose to the sports entertainment company ‘s board and others that he signed two settlement agreements worth $10.5 million with two women in order for them not to reveal potential claims against himself and WWE.
McMahon resigned from WWE’s parent company in January 2024 after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and another former executive of serious sexual misconduct. At the time, McMahon stepped down from his position as executive chairman of the board of directors at WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings. He continued to deny wrongdoing following the filing of the lawsuit.
McMahon stepped down as WWE ‘s CEO in 2022 amid an investigation into allegations that match those in the lawsuit.
The SEC said on Friday that one agreement was signed in 2019 and the other in 2022. One agreement required McMahon to pay a former employee $3 million in exchange for the former worker’s agreement to not disclose her relationship with McMahon and her release of potential claims against WWE and McMahon.
The other agreement obligated McMahon to pay a former WWE independent contractor $7.5 million in exchange for the independent contractor’s agreement to not disclose her allegations against McMahon and her release of potential claims against WWE and McMahon, the SEC said.
The commission said that by McMahon not disclosing the agreements to WWE’s board, legal department, accountants, financial reporting personnel, or auditor, it circumvented WWE’s system of internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements in the company’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements.
The SEC’s order found that, because the payments required by the 2019 and 2022 agreements were not recorded, WWE overstated its 2018 net income by approximately 8% and its 2021 net income by about 1.7%.
Once WWE learned of the settlement agreements, it issued a restatement of its financial statements in August 2022.
The SEC said that McMahon, without admitting or denying its findings, agreed to cease-and-desist from violating certain provisions, pay a $400,000 civil penalty, and reimburse WWE approximately $1.3 million.
“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,” McMahon said in a prepared statement. “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.”
Manhattan federal prosecutors declined to comment.
The good people of X were quick to make their feelings known in response to the verdict.
“No way you’re coming back,” one WWE fan commented on McMahon’s post.
Another quipped: “Oh god please don’t come back.”
One fan warned: “Hogan got booed on Raw debut on Netflix show…imagine the boos you will get if u even step into the WWE shadow! We dont want you! Stay the hell away from WWE…dont ever come back! You ruined WWE b4…just go to AEW.”
Someone leaning on the side of excitement, however, said: “Next week on Raw, Mr. McMahon returns!!!!”
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