According to a Wall Street Journal report, the board of World Wrestling Entertainment is looking into a secret $3 million settlement that company CEO Vince McMahon agreed to make to a former employee.
According to the Journal, the separation agreement was signed to prevent the former employee from talking about her relationship with McMahon. According to an email sent to the board members, McMahon hired the former staffer on a $100,000 salary and then gave her a $200,000 raise after she had a sexual relationship with him.
According to the report, the board's investigation began in April and has uncovered other non-disclosure agreements over the years between McMahon and former employees of the company.
According to the email sent to the board, McMahon gave the woman to the man like a toy. The email's allegations are being investigated by the board. According to the Journal, the board has retained the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to conduct an investigation and that payments of other nondisclosure agreements, outside of the one involving the former employee, have totaled millions of dollars.
A request for comment from the company was not returned. A spokesman for the company said that the relationship between the paralegal and McMahon was consensual, according to the Journal.
McMahon built a global wrestling powerhouse and media conglomerate after buying the World Wrestling Federation from his father.
McMahon has a majority of the shareholders' voting power.