The World Wrestling Entertainment’s board is investigating a $3 million settlement that CEO Vince McMahon secretly paid to a former female employee with whom he allegedly had an affair, according to a report.
The agreement, settled earlier this year in January with McMahon’s personal funds, bars the former employee from discussing her relationship with McMahon, 76, or disparaging him, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the board’s investigation and documents.
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The board first learned of the agreement from a series of anonymous emails sent by a person claiming to know the employee, beginning March 30, alleging that the woman began with a starting salary of $100,000 at the company, which was raised to $200,000 after a sexual relationship began with McMahon.
“My friend was so scared so she quit after Vince McMahon and lawyer Jerry paid her millions of dollars to shut up,” the first email reads.
The employee started as a paralegal for the company before becoming an assistant to the WWE’s talent executive, John Laurinaitis, sources told the outlet.
The relationship with McMahon was consensual, and the company is cooperating fully with the investigation, a spokesperson for the WWE said.
The agreement is part of an investigation that the board opened in April into other nondisclosure agreements, which total millions of dollars, involving complaints from former female employees of misconduct by McMahon and Laurinaitis, the outlet reported.
The New York-based law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP was retained by the board to conduct the investigation.
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McMahon is married to Linda McMahon, who served as the Small Business Administration chief under the Trump administration.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the WWE for comment.
