WWE's Vince McMahon Agrees Multimillion-Dollar Settlement With Former Referee Rita Chatterton
Vince McMahon was accused of sexually assaulting Rita Chatterton in 1986.
This news story contains details that some may find troubling.
-----------
As per The Wall Street Journal, Vince McMahon has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with former WWE referee Rita Chatterton.
Chatterton is the first female referee in WWE history, having debuted for the then-World Wrestling Federation in 1984. Having departed the promotion two years later, a 1992 appearance on Geraldo Rivera's Now It Can Be Told saw Rita claim that Vince McMahon raped her in his limousine in 1986 after she refused to perform oral sex on him.
1993 saw McMahon contend a lawsuit that accused Rita Chatterton of making a false rape charge against him after being put up to it by a wrestler whom Vince had irked. The following year saw that lawsuit dropped, with McMahon instead stating how he wanted to instead focus his attention on the criminal steroid scandal that was unfurling at that time.
New York law recently opened a one-year window where victims of sexual crimes are able to file lawsuits that would've previously been barred by the statute of limitations. As a result of that, Chatterton's attorney sought an $11.75 million damages claim from Vince McMahon last November, just weeks before that window officially opened.
This Wall Street Journal report notes how a settlement between both parties was agreed upon and completed last month, with the settlement said to not be the full $11.75 million, but that it's a currently unknown amount that's believed to be a multimillion dollar fee. Rita will get an initial lump sum up front, before then receiving annual instalments - which mirrors the settlements McMahon has previously agreed with other women.
Breaking: WWE's Vince McMahon agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with a former referee who said he raped her in 1986, people familiar with the matter said https://t.co/zULmQWJ4U9
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 19, 2023
Commenting on this matter, Vince McMahon's long-time lawyer Jerry McDevitt stated:
"Mr. McMahon denies and always has denied raping Ms. Chatterton. And he settled the case solely to avoid the cost of litigation."
Of course, this settlement deal follows on from several other such deals which came to public attention last year as McMahon was forced to resign from WWE in disgrace.
Amongst those previous settlements, a former wrestler was paid $7.5 million in 2018 after Vince McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex, and 2022 saw a former WWE employee paid $3 million after having an affair with McMahon.
Despite being forced to stand down as Chairman and Chief Executive last July, Vince used his power as WWE's controlling shareholder to strongarm himself back into the position of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors earlier this month. In order to obtain that position, McMahon insisted that WWE would only be able to agree new TV rights deals and a potential sale if he was re-elected.
As part of Vince McMahon's return as Executive Chairman, Stephanie McMahon has opted to herself resign entirely from WWE.
How this Rita Chatterton settlement impacts Vince remains to be seen, with this potentially setting a precedent for more previous allegations to be revisited in the coming months.