Vince McMahon‘s return to WWE might lead to a lawsuit.
McMahon officially returned to the WWE Board of Directors on January 6, just a few months after the former CEO retired amid a WWE board investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and hush money. The day before, McMahon confirmed his intention to return and participate in negotiations for media rights deals, and WWE announced his return on Friday. McMahon’s comeback came with a shakeup to the WWE board. An SEC filing revealed that JoEllen Lyons Dillon, Jeffrey R. Speed, and Alan M. Wexler were removed, while Michelle Wilson and George Barrios returned to the board. WWE also announced that Ignace Lahoud and Man Jit Singh resigned from the board.
In an update, Dave Scherer of PWInsider shared an email that was sent to a friend, who is a party in the WWE shareholder derivative lawsuit that Scott and Scott filed after the allegations against McMahon first became public in June 2022. In the email, the lawyers note that they believe there is “enough of a basis to bring a breach of fiduciary lawsuit”, and they hope to file a complaint against McMahon, and potentially other officers for breaching their duties to the company and the shareholders.
A friend of mine, who is a party in the WWE shareholder derivative suit that was filed last June by Scott and Scott after the NDA allegations against Vince McMahon surfaced, sent me the following update email that he received today from the lawyers (with names redacted to ensure privacy):
I hope you had a great holiday season. I’m writing with an update on WWE. We have been working with the company for several months and have received several internal documents, which we have been reviewing. We expect to get an additional batch of documents this week.
You also may have seen the news this past week about Vince McMahon forcing his way back onto the board, along with a major board shakeup. As a result, we believe there is enough of a basis to bring a breach of a fiduciary lawsuit. We hope to file a complaint against McMahon and possibly other directors/officers for breaching their duties to WWE and its shareholders. We should have a draft for you to review in the next couple of days.
It will also require a signature on a one-page verification which we will also send. In the meantime, do you have a phone number we could use in case we need to contact you that way? Please let me know if you have any questions about anything.
WrestleZone will provide more information as it becomes available.
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