WWE ordered to provide DOJ & SEC records as part of shareholder lawsuit
WWE has been ordered to provide Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Comission records as part of an ongoing lawsuit.
Post Wrestling is reporting that Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled Friday that WWE and TKO must produce documents and communications previously provided by them by the DOJ and SEC. These investigations took place after it was revealed in 2022 that McMahon signed multiple NDA agreements with women who previously worked for WWE. This resulted in McMahon retiring from WWE until the following year, when he forced himself back into power due to being the majority stockholder of the company.
Shareholders alleged in the lawsuit, filed back in late 2023, that McMahon orchestrated WWE’s 2023 merger with Endeavor upon his return in order to keep himself in power, dismissing other potential buyers who were unlikely to keep him in charge, failing to maximize shareholder value. Defendants include McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, and former board members George Barrios and Michelle Wilson.
The court rejected arguments from attorneys represented by Khan and Levesque who claimed that the material was irrelevant, had already been provided, or were requested too late.
“The relevance of the investigations to McMahon’s motivations is obvious,” Laster wrote in his decision. “The nexus not only exists but is tight and direct.”
The case, currently in its discovery phase, is scheduled to go to trial in June.
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.