Vince McMahon in multimillion-dollar settlement with rape accuser

WWE (NYSE:WWE) Executive Chairman Vince McMahon has agreed to a multimillion-dollar legal settlement with a female employee who accused him of rape.

According to a Wall Street Journal report sourced from unnamed “people familiar with the agreement,” Rita Chatterton was the first female referee in the World Wrestling Federation (WWE”™s former name) and sought $11.75 million in damages from McMahon, alleging that he raped her in 1986. Chatterton made her demands in November after a recently-passed New York law enabled a one-year window for sex crime victims to file lawsuits that would have been prohibited by the statute of limitations.

The settlement figure was not disclosed, although the Journal reported Chatterton “agreed to a lesser amount in the millions of dollars. McMahon”™s attorney Jerry McDevitt, issued a statement that his client agreed to the settlement “solely to avoid the cost of litigation,” adding that he denied the wrestling industry executive ever raped Chatterton.

However, this is not the first time that McMahon has made settlements with former female employees who accused him of sexual assault or misconduct. McMahon agreed to a $7.5 million settlement in 2018 with a former female wrestler who said he forced her to perform oral sex, and in 2022 he paid $3 million to a former WWE employee with whom he allegedly had an affair. Last July, McMahon abruptly announced his retirement following Wall Street Journal reporting that he secretly paid as much as $14 million to former female WWE employees to assure their silence over alleged sexual misconduct.

McMahon used his majority shares ownership in Stamford-based WWE to force his way back into the leadership role earlier this month, with a goal of exploring the potential sale of the company. While the Chatterton settlement provides one less liability for potential buyers, McMahon is still reportedly being investigated by federal regulators for the circumstances surrounding his departure from the company last July.

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