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Former Pro-Wrestling Entrepreneur Lawyer Vince McMahon He was wrong to retain some documents from a Federal Grand Jury, since he investigated how the former WWE chief handled multimillionaire agreement agreements with two employees who accused him of sexual abuse, a Federal Court of Appeals ruled on Monday.
Three judges in the Second Court of Appeals of the United States in New York confirmed a ruling from the lower court that said the documents were not protected by the lawyer-client privilege due to an exception for the “crime or fraud.”
The Court of Appeals said that the lower court judge found that prosecutors had reasonable reasons to believe that McMahon and his lawyer “illegally” eluded ” The WWE’s Internal controls and created false records when they hid the claims of the employees and the company’s settlement agreements, and that made false and misleading statements to the company’s auditors, although McMahon paid the agreements with funds that do not come from The company.
The appeal panel said that, although McMahon’s lawyer presented many materials in response to a jury citation, they also presented a record of 208 documents that were being held under statements of privilege of lawyer-client.
Vince McMahon attends the WrestleMania 29 Press Conference at Radio City Music Hall on April 4, 2013 in New York City. (Eugene Gologursky/Wiremage)
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Although the identities of the parties were not revealed in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, a person familiar with the matter confirmed that the “former executive director of a” company that quotes in the stock market “did not identify that the person insisted on the anonymity to discuss details that have not been made public.
The state of the investigation of the Grand Jury was not clear immediately. The United States Prosecutor’s Office in Manhattan has declined to comment when asked about the investigation, which has not revealed publicly.
The representatives of McMahon, who has denied irregularities, said they had no immediate comments about the court ruling. McMahon has previously suggested that he was no longer under investigation.
In January, McMahon said in a statement that “almost three years of investigation by different government agencies” in their actions had ended. The statement occurred when the Federal Stock Exchange and Securities Commission announced that it had resolved the charges against McMahon for not revealing the liquidation agreements with the two employees now trainers to the WWE officials.
“In the end, there was never anything else that the minor accounting errors regarding some personal payments that I did several years ago while it was CEO of WWE,” the statement said. “I am delighted to be able to leave all this behind.”
April 3, 2022; Arlington, Tx, USA; The then owner of the WWE, Vince McMahon, during Wrestlemania at the AT&T stadium. (Joe Camporeale-USA Today Sports)
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However, the Court of Appeals said in Monday’s ruling that the case “refers to the procedures at a large jury. At present, no accusations have been issued.”
The opinion revealed some new details of the investigation of the Great Jury.
The representatives of one of the former employees who obtained a McMahon conciliation agreement, Janel Grant, declined to comment on Monday.
McMahon resigned from the WWE parent company in January 2024 after Grant presented a Federal Demand accusing him and another former executive of serious sexual behavior. At that time, McMahon resigned his position as executive president of the Board of Directors of the WWE Matrix Company, Tko Group Holdings. He continued to deny irregularities after the presentation of the demand.
McMahon resigned as CEO of the WWE in 2022 in the midst of an investigation of the company on accusations that coincide with those of the demand.
Grant has said she was pressed to leave her job with the WWE and sign a non -dissemination agreement of $ 3 million.
April 3, 2022; Arlington, Tx, USA; The WWE owner, Vince McMahon, enters the sand during Wrestlemania at the AT&T stadium. (Joe Camporeale-USA Today Sports)
The demand, which alleges sexual aggression and traffic, also seeks that the agreement be declared invalid, saying that McMahon violated the agreement by giving him $ 1 million and not paying the rest.
The $ 3 million agreement is mentioned in the decision of the Court of Appeals on Monday, along with another $ 7.5 million agreement that McMahon made with another former employee.
Associated Press normally does not appoint people who make accusations of sexual assault unless they present themselves publicly, what did.
The prosecutors attended to the citations of McMahon’s lawyer, who has no name in the judicial documents, and the signature of the lawyer in September 2023, looking for all the communications between McMahon, his lawyer and the law firm with respect to the two Previous employees, according to the Court of Appeals. The lawyer helped McMahon negotiate the agreements, the court said.
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When the lawyer retained some of the documents that claim the lawyer-client privilege, prosecutors asked the lower court to force the production of the records, which led to the appeal decided on Monday.
The appeal judges wrote: “Because the liquidation agreements resolved by the victims’ claims were” structured and negotiated … to keep them hidden for (the company), “the District Court determined that” all communications on Claims and liquidation agreements were made to promote the criminal scheme to maintain (the company) and its auditors do not know the accusations’ “.
