Vince McMahon, Nick Khan sanctioned in WWE shareholder lawsuit
Vince McMahon and his fellow defendants have been dealt a blow in the ongoing shareholder lawsuit related to Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE.
A group of shareholders is suing McMahon and then-WWE board members Nick Khan, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Michelle Wilson, and George Barrios, alleging that McMahon steered the company’s 2023 sale/merger process to Endeavor so that he would end up in a favorable position under the new regime. The claim is that McMahon, with promises from Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, was influenced to go in this direction instead of considering other bids that would have been more financially beneficial to the company and its shareholders.
The trial is scheduled to begin on June 8. Ahead of that, the judge has ruled that McMahon and Khan “acted recklessly” by using the messaging app Signal and changing their settings so that messages would automatically delete after a short period of time. Because of that spoliation (destruction) of evidence, the judge has sided with the shareholders in sanctioning the defendants. The sanctions mean the burden of proof has shifted and the defense is tasked with showing the following is not true:
- Emanuel’s promise to provide Vince with a continued role at any post-merger company after a transaction influenced Vince’s decision-making with respect to the merger.
- Emanuel’s offer of indemnification and other legal support related to pending federal investigations of Vince’s alleged misconduct influenced Vince’s decision-making with respect to the merger.
- Vince decided to pursue a transaction with Endeavor in 2022, before the Company initiated the strategic review process.
- Khan communicated with Emanuel between August and December 2022 to facilitate a transaction between WWE and Endeavor.
- Vince and Khan worked with Raine [banking company] to steer the process toward a deal with Endeavor and away from other potential bidders.
McMahon, Khan, Levesque, Stephanie McMahon, and former WWE executive Brad Blum are listed as the group of people who used Signal and its auto-delete function. Though Wilson and Barrios were not Signal users, the judge says this ruling is not unfair to them because it is only related to McMahon and Khan’s conduct and does not assume others knew about it or were involved.
Neither WWE nor TKO are defendants in the suit. Though McMahon did hold a high-ranking executive position in TKO after the sale, he is no longer employed by the company after resigning in January 2024 in the wake of the sexual abuse allegations made in Janel Grant’s lawsuit.
This shareholder suit will include testimony from McMahon, Khan, Levesque, Emanuel, TKO’s Mark Shapiro, and others.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.