WWE founder Vince McMahon resigns from TKO Group after being accused of sexual assault and trafficking in new lawsuit

Vince McMahon, govt chairman of the board of TKO Group Holdings and founding father of wrestling large WWE, has resigned his positions at each firms, in keeping with a WWE memo obtained by CNBC and confirmed by the corporate.

“Vince McMahon has tendered his resignation from his positions as TKO Government Chairman and on the TKO Board of Administrators. He’ll now not have a task with TKO Group Holdings or WWE,” mentioned Nick Khan, president of the WWE.

The announcement got here within the wake of allegations made public Thursday, of sexual assault and intercourse trafficking, in opposition to McMahon.

McMahon has denied the allegations. However he mentioned in a press release late Friday that, “out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO enterprise and its board members and shareholders, companions and constituents, and the entire workers and Superstars who helped make WWE into the worldwide chief it’s in the present day, I’ve determined to resign from my govt chairmanship and the TKO board of administrators, efficient instantly.”

The newest allegations in opposition to McMahon were in a lawsuit filed by Janel Grant — who alleges McMahon directed her to have intercourse with a WWE “celebrity” and different males. Grant’s go well with seeks to void a nondisclosure settlement Grant mentioned she reached with McMahon in early 2022.

Grant’s go well with in U.S. District Court docket in Connecticut says the billionaire McMahon agreed to pay her $3 million as a part of that deal, however ended up solely paying her $1 million in change for her silence about his conduct.

Along with McMahon, 78, the grievance names as defendants WWE and John Laurinaitis, the corporate’s former head of expertise relations and normal supervisor.

The grievance comes six months after federal legislation enforcement brokers executed a search warrant on McMahon and served him with a grand jury subpoena as a part of an investigation into McMahon’s cost of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to a number of girls, amongst them Grant, after allegations of sexual misconduct.

McMahon, who resigned from WWE management posts in mid-2022 amid an inside firm investigation, solely to return as its chief in early 2023, final March paid WWE $17.4 million to cowl prices of a probe of these payouts by a legislation agency retained by the corporate.