Vince McMahon lawyer wrongly withheld documents, court rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that a former lawyer for Vince McMahon was wrong to withhold documents related to McMahon’s handling of two hush money settlement deals with former WWE employees.

In September 2023, federal prosecutors subpoenaed McMahon’s lawyer, who is unnamed in court documents, along with their law firm, seeking all communications related to the settlements. One of the employees is believed to be Janel Grant, who reached a $3 million agreement with McMahon. Another $7.5 million settlement was made with an unnamed former WWE employee.

While some materials were turned over, McMahon’s lawyer withheld 208 pages of documents, citing attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors sought a court order for their release, and a lower court ruled in their favor.

On Monday, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, stating the documents were not protected by attorney-client privilege due to the “crime or fraud” exception.

The appellate judges wrote, “Because the settlement agreements resolving the Victims’ claims were ‘structured and negotiated … to keep them hidden from (the Company),’ the district court found that ‘all communications about the claims and settlement agreements were made in furtherance of the criminal scheme to keep (the Company) and its auditors unaware of the allegations.'”

The court found reasonable grounds to believe McMahon and his lawyer “circumvented WWE’s internal controls,” created false records, and misled auditors to keep the settlements hidden. As a result, WWE had to revise its financial statements in August 2022 to account for the previously undisclosed payments.

Unless McMahon’s team appeals to the Supreme Court, they will be required to turn over the documents to the grand jury.

McMahon settled with the SEC last month over the undisclosed payments, agreeing to pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse WWE $1.33 million.