World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. discovered decades-old payments totaling $5 million to former President Donald Trump’s defunct charity during an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against WWE founder Vince McMahon.
The payments were found among $19.6 million in unrecorded company expenses McMahon had paid out, the Wall Street Journal reported. Most of the payments were sent to women who had levied sexual assault allegations against McMahon and another WWE executive. McMahon resigned as WWE’s chairman and CEO in July after reports surfaced that the company’s board was investigating his secret settlement payments.
The $5 million WWE discovered that had been paid to the Trump Foundation in two installments, however, was unrelated to sexual misconduct allegations. Instead, they were appearance fees for Trump’s participation in two WWE events in 2007 and 2009, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
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Trump directed McMahon to pay the Trump Foundation $4 million in return for his participation in a WWE event in 2007 in which Trump conducted a “hostile takeover” of the main stage of “WrestleMania 23” by blindsiding McMahon and pile driving him to the ground in front of the sold-out crowd.
WWE paid an additional $1 million appearance fee to the Trump Foundation in 2009 for Trump’s participation in “WWE Raw” that year.
“Mr. Trump and WWE entered into a contract whereby WWE agreed to and did pay him personally an appearance fee of $1 million,” WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt told the Wall Street Journal. “At the same time, the McMahons made a personal contribution to the Trump Foundation of $4 million. There was no additional fee paid to Mr. Trump, or any additional contribution to the Trump Foundation, due to the success of the event.”
The Trump Foundation disclosed the payments in its 2007 and 2009 IRS Form 990 tax returns, but WWE falsely claimed in 2017 that the money came directly from McMahon.
McMahon is close friends with Trump. His wife, Linda McMahon, was the administrator of the Small Business Administration when Trump was president.
Trump dissolved the Trump Foundation in late 2018 as part of a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed a lawsuit against Trump for misusing the charity’s funds to support his 2016 presidential campaign and promote his private businesses.
A New York judge later ordered Trump to pay a $2 million fine after Trump admitted to misusing the Trump Foundation’s charitable funds.
“Not only has the Trump Foundation shut down for its misconduct, but the president has been forced to pay $2 million for misusing charitable funds for his own political gain,” James said in a December 2019 statement. “Charities are not a means to an end, which is why these damages speak to the president’s abuse of power and represent a victory for not-for-profits that follow the law. Funds have finally gone where they deserve — to eight credible charities. My office will continue to fight for accountability because no one is above the law — not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the president of the United States.”
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Trump said in a 2019 tweet the fine for his misuse of charitable funds was nothing more than an attack by New York “political hacks.”
“I am the only person I know, perhaps the only person in history, who can give major money to charity ($19M), charge no expense, and be attacked by the political hacks in New York State,” Trump said. “No wonder why we are all leaving!”
