Vince McMahon Served Subpoena, Search Warrant By Federal Agents

World Wrestling Entertainment Executive Chairman Vince McMahon was served a search warrant by federal law enforcement last month, the company revealed in an Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday (August 2), CNBC reports.

WWE said it “has received voluntary and compulsory legal demands for documents, including from federal law enforcement and regulatory agencies, concerning the investigation and related subject matters" in relation to an ongoing investigation into allegations that McMahon, 77, paid tens of millions in hush money to female employees following public accusations of sexual misconduct. WWE also acknowledged that McMahon "went on leave after undergoing major spinal surgery" beginning on July 21 and will "remain on medical leave until further notice but will remain Executive Chairman during its quarterly report to the SEC.

WWE referred to the subpoena and search warrant as “a continuation of the investigation that commenced last summer" when reached for comment by CNBC.

"WWE has cooperated throughout and fully understands and respects the government’s need for a complete process.”

“I have always denied any intentional wrongdoing and continue to do so," McMahon said in a separate statement to CNBC. "I am confident that the government’s investigation will be resolved without any findings of wrongdoing."

McMahon officially returned and elected himself to WWE's board of directors on January 6 following a brief retirement that began in the summer of 2022. McMahon still had majority voting power through his ownership of the company's Class-B stock, which allowed him to add himself, as well as former co-presidents and directors, Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, to WWE's board, a move required three former directors to vacate their positions.

WWE's board of directors had previously rejected a move to reinstate McMahon since his retirement last year.

McMahon announced his retirement amid a sexual-harassment scandal in an official statement shared by the company, confirming his daughter, then-acting chairwoman and CEO Stephanie McMahon, and WWE President Nick Khan, would take over as co-CEOs amid his departure.

Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, McMahon's son-in-law and a former in-ring performer, took over WWE creative amid McMahon's departure. In August 2022, an SEC filing confirmed McMahon paid a total of $19.6 million in personal expenses.

The payments, which were uncovered during the company's ongoing investigation into claims of sexual misconduct committed by McMahon, made two payments in 2007 and 2009 that should have been included in the company's consolidated financial statements.

In July 2022, the Wall Street Journal, which exclusively reported WWE's investigation a $3 million hush-money settlement paid by McMahon to a woman over an alleged affair, reported that the 76-year-old paid more than $12 million in hush money to four women during the past 16 years in an effort to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity.

McMahon initially stepped down from his responsibilities voluntarily amid the ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct and would be replaced by his daughter on an interim basis.

Since then, McMahon had made multiple in-character appearances on both Friday Night SmackDown and Monday Night Raw, though not directly addressing the allegations or investigation. According to the Journal, an agreement was made in January 2022 to prevent the woman, a former WWE paralegal, from discussing her relationship with McMahon or making critical statements about him publicly.

A spokesperson for WWE confirmed to the Journal that the company was cooperating with the board's investigation -- which was launched in April -- and that the relationship between the 77-year-old and the former employee was consensual.

McMahon has been married to his wife, Linda -- who served as WWE's president and later CEO from 1980 to 2009 and later as Small Business Administration chief as part of former President Donald Trump's administration from 2017 to 2019 -- since 1966.

The Journal also reports that the board's investigation revealed other nondisclosure pacts stemming from misconduct claims involving other women who had previously worked for WWE, which involved McMahon and John Laurinaitis, WWE's general manager of talent relations, who was reportedly fired in August 2022, according to PWInsider.

McMahon had previously disposed 38,519 of his shares of World Wrestling Entertainment stock at $0 following his recent retirement, but still remained the company's top shareholder, according to an SEC filing shared on WWE's official corporate website on July 26, 2022.