WWE Board Investigates Vince McMahon For 'Secret' Hush Payment: Report

STAMFORD, CT — The board for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. is investigating Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon for "a secret $3 million settlement" he agreed to pay to a former employee "with whom he allegedly had an affair," according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

An agreement was reached in January with the woman, who was hired as a paralegal in 2019, the WSJ said, noting that the deal prohibits the woman "from discussing her relationship with Mr. McMahon or disparaging him."

A WWE spokesperson told the WSJ that the relationship between McMahon and the former employee was "consensual," and that the company is cooperating with the board's inquiry.

Older nondisclosure agreements involving claims from former WWE employees of misconduct by McMahon and John Laurinaitis, WWE's general manager of talent relations, have been discovered as a result of the board's investigation, the WSJ reported.

The WSJ said McMahon's attorney, Jerry McDevitt, wrote a letter to the newspaper explaining that the former paralegal hadn't made claims of harassment against McMahon and that "WWE did not pay any monies" to the woman when she left the company.

According to the WSJ, WWE's board of directors consists of several executives and members of the McMahon family. Man Jit Singh, a former executive with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, is the lead independent director and is heading up the inquiry.

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