Vince McMahon, who returned to the company last week after resigning amid a wave of sexual harassment allegations, has been dealt with a lawsuit.
According to court documents from Bloomberg Law, a WWE investor named Scott A. Fellows has filed a lawsuit alleging McMahon pushed aside the board to install himself as chairman again illegally.
The suit was filed in Delaware’s Chancery Court, where the WWE shareholder accused him of using his 81% voting control to oust three board members and then replace them with two loyalists (George Barrios and Michelle Wilson) and make bylaw changes that would “impose his will on the board and WWE.”
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The lawsuit was filed six months after Vince stepped down as chairman and CEO of WWE because of the allegations that he paid $12 million over more than 15 years to keep the sexual harassment accusations quiet.
Vince’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, resigned as co-CEO and chairwoman Tuesday. Nick Khan is now the WWE CEO, while Triple H is still in charge of the main roster creative.
The lawsuit notes that McMahon managed to time his return to get control of upcoming negotiations over the company’s expiring media rights by leveraging a threat to withhold support for any deal reached if the Board didn’t bring him back.
This was also shared in public SEC documents from December in addition to McMahon stating he wanted to oversee a potential sale of the company. The board, which had included Stephanie, Khan, and Triple H, unanimously voted against McMahon coming back.
The suit stated the move to “take complete personal control over any major corporate decision” by “adding his cronies to the board” violates Delaware law.
