The legal fight over WWEs 2023 merger with UFC under TKO Group Holdings has taken another sharp turnthis time with shareholder plaintiffs demanding access to records tied to the federal investigations into Vince McMahons alleged sexual misconduct.
In a new filing submitted Friday in Delaware Chancery Court via WrestleNomics, shareholders asked Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster to order WWE, TKO, President Nick Khan, Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque (Triple H), and former board members George Barrios and Michelle Wilson to hand over every document they shared with federal investigators between January 2022 and January 2024.
The requested materials include any documentation submitted to the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with their investigations into McMahons alleged sexual misconduct and the non-disclosure payments that followed. Plaintiffs also want access to related communications with those agencies.
This update signals that plaintiffs are pushing harder to expose what WWE leadership knewand whenregarding the misconduct allegations. It adds another layer to a lawsuit that already accuses McMahon and others of breaching their fiduciary duties by steering the Endeavor merger in a direction that kept McMahon in power despite his scandals.
While McMahon has not been criminally charged, he previously reached a settlement with the SEC, agreeing to repay $1.3 million and pay a $400,000 fine. He did not admit or deny the agencys findings. Some of the NDAs McMahon signedlike the $3 million agreement with former employee Janel Grant and a separate $7.5 million deal with a former WWE talentwere not disclosed to the company or public until 2022, prompting financial statement corrections.
The new court filing also alludes to a potential standoff: it was filed under seal, but the proposed order is publichinting that plaintiffs and defendants couldnt resolve the dispute privately. WWE, TKO, and the executives involved will have an opportunity to respond before the judge rules on whether they must produce the documents.
This latest update follows mounting scrutiny over the use of the Signal messaging app by WWE executives during merger talks, which plaintiffs believe may have allowed messages to vanish without proper record-keeping. Defendants insist those concerns are exaggerated.
McMahon is set to be deposed on Monday as the legal team digs deeper into the billion-dollar deal and the behavior of those who orchestrated it.
Shareholder litigation is expected to continue well into 2025, as both sides escalate efforts to uncover how much of the deal was driven by businessand how much was driven by self-preservation.
What do you thinkshould WWE and TKO be forced to turn over all federal documents tied to Vince McMahons misconduct investigations? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
