What is the $3 million deal WWE is investigating against Vince McMahon?

Vince McMahon, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE), has been accused of striking a secret deal of $3 million in January 2022 with a former employee with whom he allegedly had an affair and sexual relationship, The Wall Street Journal reported.

As per the deal, the former employee was asked not to reveal anything about her relationship with McMahon.

WHO IS THE FORMER EMPLOYEE? The people who worked with the former employee said she had joined the company in 2019 due to her financial constraints and spoke on need of extra money. She had said that she had a law degree but had not appeared in a law exam. She had told her colleagues that her career took a hit because she had to tend to her sick parents, the WSJ reported.

She moved from the legal department of WWE in 2021, and was made an assistant of Mr Laurinaitis, people familiar with the inquiry said.

WHO IS JOHN LAURINAITIS? John Laurinaitis is a former wrestler whose in ring name was Johnny Ace. He has been in WWE since 2001, but off late he is the talent recruiter of WWE. He is also known as one of Mr McMahon’s most trusted associates.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: It came to the notice of the board of directors of the WWE through an anonymous email that recognizes itself as a friend of the former employee. 

The email said that McMahon had hired the woman at a salary of $100,000 but increased it to $200,000 after beginning a sexual relationship with her. The allegations are also levelled against WWE’s Talent Hunt Officer John Laurinaitis. The woman said that McMahon 'gave her like a toy' to Mr Laurinaitis.

The investigation of the eight board of directors started in April 2022 and they have sought the services of New York based law firm Simpson Thacher & Barlett LLP to conduct the investigation.

The board of directors in their scrutiny have also come across other, older non-disclosure agreements which involves claims by former employees against McMahon and also his top executive John Laurinaitis. 

The board is still scrutinizing the other deals and has so far said that the payments totalled in billions of dollars. It also found that Mr McMahon paid from his personal funds for these deals.