A new report from The Wall Street Journal says that the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors are looking into payments made by World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon to settle claims of sexual misconduct.
The WWE revealed on Monday that McMahon paid $14.6 million in expenses that had not been recorded before. McMahon announced his retirement on Friday. The company also gave hints that the allegations of wrongdoing, which are already being looked into by an independent review overseen by the board of directors, are also being looked into by other agencies, but didn’t say which ones.
The Wall Street Journal says that the federal investigations into McMahon made him leave the company faster. McMahon, who is 76 years old, owns about 32% of the company and has the most shares.
CNBC has asked the WWE for their thoughts.
From 2006 to this year, it is said that McMahon paid nearly $15 million to women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs and wrongdoing. The WWE said that it would include the unrecorded expenses in updated reports for 2019, 2020, and 2021, as well as for the first quarter of this year, when it reports earnings for the second quarter.
WWE said that the changes could delay the company’s report, which was supposed to come out on August 9.
Monday, shares of WWE went up more than 8%, reaching a new 52-week high as investors got more optimistic about the company being sold. So far this year, the stock is up 45%, which is more than the S&P 500, which is down more than 16%.
