A bomb detonated. Controversy reached the former Chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Vince McMahon after the Wall Street Journal published that he allegedly paid millions of dollars in hush money to women to prevent them from reporting him for sexual misconduct.
This comes on the heels of a first scandal made public in April 2022, when McMahon was forced to resign from his WWE positions after the company’s board launched an investigation into a $3 million payment from the 76-year-old businessman to a former female employee with whom he allegedly had an affair.
Vince McMahon‘s history already included previous problems for similar circumstances, after in 1992 Rita Chatterton, who served as referee in the 80’s made public alleged sexual misconduct by McMahon that included an alleged rape. These allegations were not investigated.
Millions of dollars paid by Vince McMahon in hush money
According to the Wall Street Journal, McMahon allegedly paid a total of $12 million in bribes divided among four women in exchange for their silence about sexual misconduct on his part. This over a 16-year period.
One of McMahon’s hush money payments reportedly was for $7.5 million in 2018, and allegedly was made to a former WWE wrestler whom he allegedly forced to perform oral sex on him, only to subsequently not renew her employment contract after she refused to have subsequent sexual encounters.
Another sexual harassment reported by the aforementioned media that Vince McMahon silenced took place in 2008, when the businessman allegedly sent nude photos of himself and harassed a WWE contractor. The agreement for his silence would have been for 1 million dollars. Similarly in 2006, another million was paid by McMahon to hide an affair with a manager of the company.
Thus, this story of bribery and sexual misconduct by Vince McMahon would be gaining force, and could reach other instances that exceed the private sphere, as was his resignation from his positions in the WWE, and land on the public having allegedly committed crimes of this nature.
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