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Mike CoppingerGAME
WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon, who returned to the company earlier this month, has settled a lawsuit from a former referee who accused him of raping her in 1986, his attorney said. The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The exact amount of the multimillion-dollar deal with Rita Chatterton, completed last month, was not disclosed. The settlement expands a series of payments related to sexual misconduct allegations involving McMahon to a total of $19.6 million prior to this latest settlement.
“Mr McMahon denies and has always denied raping Ms Chatterton,” McMahon’s personal attorney, Jerry McDevitt, told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the settlement. “And he settled the case just to avoid the cost of litigation.”
WWE declined to comment.
McMahon, 77, alleged in a 1993 lawsuit that Chatterton was persuaded by another wrestler to make a false rape allegation. McMahon withdrew the lawsuit in 1994, he said, to focus on a trial in which he was accused of selling steroids to wrestlers.
McMahon retired last summer following sexual misconduct allegations that included payments under a non-disclosure agreement. Although McMahon used personal funds for NDA payments, he did not record those expenses, which totaled $19.6 million.
After McMahon left, his daughter, Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan, a longtime agent at the CAA, took on the role of co-CEOs. Stephanie McMahon stepped down last month, leaving Khan as sole CEO.
Stephanie McMahon’s husband, WWE Hall of Famer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, remains creatively responsible as chief content officer.
Vince McMahon returned a few weeks ago as chairman of the board to “make the most of” the upcoming media rights negotiations. The board of directors had previously rejected McMahon’s attempt to return to the company, but he retained most of his voting rights.
“WWE is entering a pivotal moment in its history with upcoming media rights negotiations coinciding with growing industry-wide demand for quality content and live events, as well as with a wide range of public and private companies. companies are looking to own the intellectual property on their platforms,” McMahon said earlier this month.
“My return will allow WWE, as well as any trading partners, to participate in these processes knowing they will have the backing of a controlling shareholder.”
WWE’s rights agreements with Fox and USA will expire next year; negotiations are expected to begin later in 2023. WWE announced its first billion-dollar revenue year in 2022. McMahon bought the company from his father in 1982 and built WWF then became the preeminent wrestling company in the world.
