The New York Post reveals that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have dropped a criminal probe into former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. That was in relation to him allegedly covering up multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
A grand jury had considered whether the 78-year-old broke the law by covering up allegations of sexual misconduct from two female former employees, with his reported attempts to cover up $10.5 million worth of payouts at the heart of this investigation.
While McMahon isn't named in the ruling, it states that the grand jury met to rule on "the subject of an ongoing grand jury investigation concerning whether, as CEO, he engaged in a criminal scheme to circumvent the company’s internal accounting controls and mislead company auditors in order to conceal multiple allegations of sexual misconduct raised against him by two former company employees."
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision suggests that the case is still active, but McMahon’s lawyer Robert W. Allen, says otherwise.
"This is simply the result of an appeal of a procedural matter that was argued five months ago," Allen confirmed. "We have been in consistent communication with the government since that time and understand, with no ambiguity, that the investigation has definitively concluded and will not result in charges."
It no doubt helps that McMahon is close friends with President Donald Trump, of course.
Regardless, it seems prosecutors dropped the case at some point between September 18 and January 10 when the Securities and Exchange Commission announced it had reached a settlement with McMahon to resolve the cover-up claims.
At the time, McMahon said, "In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me."
This marks the second time McMahon has emerged from a federal law enforcement probe without being convicted of any crimes, though the lawsuit filed by Janel Grant remains unresolved.
While the former WWE Chairman has essentially cleared his name, it's highly unlikely he'll return to WWE in any capacity, especially with that civil case still on the cusp of potentially revealing more damaging claims. WWE has also flourished without his creative input, so it's unlikely TKO would want to take a step back by placing Vince in charge of, well, anything.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.