WWE Board Investigates Vince McMahon Secret $3Million Settlement Over Alleged Affair With Employee

Investigation includes "millions of dollars" of historic misconduct NDAs, John Laurinaitis involved.

Vince McMahon John Laurinaitis
WWE.com

The Wall Street Journal have reported that WWE’s board of directors are currently investigating a secret settlement deal involving Vince McMahon, relating to relationship between McMahon and a former employee, a $3million separation agreement, and historic nondisclosure agreements involving former female employees making misconduct claims against McMahon and general manager of talent relations John Laurinaitis.

As per WSJ's story, the $3million agreement was revealed to the board thanks to an anonymous email from an alleged friend of the former employee, who was hired with a $100,000 salary before moving up to $200,000 following the beginning of a sexual relationship with McMahon. The email also alleged that McMahon “gave her like a toy” to Laurinaitis, that the woman was "so scared" and that McMahon's attorney Jerry McDevitt paid her to "millions of dollars to shut up".

In further potentially damning news, the story added that upon commencing investigations in April, the board uncovered other historic nondisclosure agreements involving former female employees and misconduct claims against McMahon and Laurinaitis, paid - according to law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP who are overseeing the investigation - from Vince's personal funds. Those figures ran into the "millions of dollars" too.

Advertisement

WWE have confirmed to WSJ that the aforementioned relationship was "consensual", with McDevitt adding that there were no allegations of harassment and "WWE did not pay any monies" to the ex-employee "on her departure". WWE's board includes McMahon himself, as well as daughter Stephanie, Paul Levesque, Nick Khan and several other executives.

More on the investigations as and when news breaks.

Advertisement
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett