The appeals court said the lower court judge found prosecutors had reasonable grounds to believe that McMahon and his lawyer illegally “circumvented” the WWE's internal controls and created false records when they concealed the employees' claims and settlement agreements from the company, and that they made false and misleading statements to the company's auditors — even though McMahon paid the settlements with funds that did not come from the company.
A former lawyer for pro-wrestling impresario Vince McMahon was wrong to withhold some documents from a federal grand jury as it investigated how the former WWE boss handled multimillion-dollar settlement agreements with two female employees who accused him of sexual abuse, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
Prosecutors served subpoenas on McMahon's lawyer, who is unnamed in court documents, and the attorney's firm in September 2023, seeking all communications between McMahon, his attorney and the law firm regarding the two former employees, according to the appellate court.
The appellate judges wrote, “Because the settlement agreements resolving the Victims’ claims were ‘structured and negotiated ... to keep them hidden from (the Company),' the district court found that ’all communications about the claims and settlement agreements were made in furtherance of the criminal scheme to keep (the Company) and its auditors unaware of the allegations.
The $3 million settlement is mentioned in Monday's appellate court ruling, along with another $7.5 million settlement McMahon made with another former employee.
