WWE co-founder Vince McMahon has agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission more than $1.7 million following allegations that he failed to divulge payment agreements linked to sexual assault charges.
McMahon has stepped down as WWE CEO after secretly paying as much as $3 million to a former employee and doubling her salary to keep her quiet about their affair.
McMahon agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying its findings but will cough up $400,000 civil penalty and repay the WWE a whopping $1,331,000.
McMahon issued a statement following the settlement of the agreement.
“The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be. As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading. In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.”