Vince McMahon Reaches Settlement Deal with SEC Over Violating Security Exchange Act, McMahon & Janel Grant’s Attorney Issues Statements

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that former TKO and WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon reached a settlement deal with them regarding charges related to undisclosed agreements he made on behalf of WWE when he was the company’s CEO and Chairman.

The SEC announced they found that McMahon had “violated the Securities and Exchange Act by knowingly circumventing WWE’s internal accounting controls and that he directly or indirectly made or caused to be made false or misleading statements to WWE’s auditor.”

The SEC also announced that by not disclosing “the agreements to WWE’s Board of Directors, legal department, accountants, financial reporting personnel, or auditor. Doing so circumvented WWE’s system of internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements in WWE’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements.”

These agreements in question were related to non-disclosure agreements and payments made by Vince towards an unnamed former WWE talent in 2019 and unnamed former WWE employee who is believed to be Janel Grant in 2022.

The SEC also announced that they had fined McMahon $400,000 and ordered him to reimburse WWE for $1,330,915.90.

Following the SEC’s announcement, McMahon issued an official statement on Twitter confirming that he had reached a settlement deal and downplayed the severity of the charges that were against him.

“The case is closed.  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.

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.”

Grant’s lawyer Ann Callis also issued an official statement about today’s SEC announcement against McMahon.

“Statement from Ann Callis, Attorney for Janel Grant, on Confirmation from the SEC that Vince McMahon Violated the Law 

SEC charges Vince McMahon after he failed to disclose two hush-money settlements to WWE, in an attempt to keep his abuse and harassment quiet

NEW YORK – Today, the SEC found that on two separate occasions Vince McMahon violated the law when he paid hush money settlements in an attempt to keep allegations of abuse against him quiet.

Ann Callis, attorney for Janel Grant, the former WWE employee and sexual assault and human trafficking survivor, released the following statement:

“During his time leading WWE, Vince McMahon acted as if rules did not apply to him, and now we have confirmation that he repeatedly broke the law to cover up his horrifying behavior, including human trafficking. The SEC’s charges prove that the NDA Vince McMahon coerced Ms. Grant into signing violates the law, and therefore her case must be heard in court. While prosecutors for the Southern District of New York continue their criminal investigation, we look forward to bringing forward new evidence in our civil case about the sexual exploitation Ms. Grant endured at WWE by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis.”