The NDAs that several women signed with Vince McMahon were reportedly created in secret and entered into without WWE's knowledge with McMahon even going as far as to sign them on the company's behalf.
The report comes from "a person familiar with the situation" via VICE's Tim Marchman who added that detail is the reason WWE had to issue revised earning statements following the summer of 2022 scandal that erupted when McMahon's hush money payments to women he allegedly had sexual affairs with became public.
In talking with several legal experts, Marchman reported that the terms in the aforementioned NDAs are likely unenforceable. In Janel Grant's case, the fact McMahon paid $1 million of the $3 million agreed to likely makes any deal null and void.
Grant went public last week in a detailed lawsuit against McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and WWE, accusing McMahon of sex trafficking and sexual abuse.
From the story:
"An NDA cannot be used as a shield to prevent a victim from bringing criminal charges or speaking to investigators. If these women or others desire to speak out in public or bring civil suits, though, it’s not clear that an agreement like the one Grant signed would prevent that."
A day after his lawyer said his client was a victim like Grant under McMahon's control, Laurinaitis' lawyer Edward Brennan told VICE they will "go where the evidence leads" when it comes to whether other company executives were aware and involved in what Grant is alleging happened during her three-year tenure with WWE.
There is then the revelation that McMahon signed the secret agreements on the company's behalf without their knowledge after getting counsel from longtime lawyer Jerry McDevitt:
"According to a source familiar with the matter, though, the contract was in fact executed, with McMahon secretly signing on both his behalf and that of WWE after seeking counsel from his longtime attorney, Jerry McDevitt, a seeming conflict of interest Goldberg called “bizarre.”"
Goldberg is lawyer Carrie Goldberg, who represented victims of Harvey Weinstein, and was interviewed for the article. She also noted that the copy Grant filed in the lawsuit wasn't signed by McMahon "in either his personal capacity or role as then-chair of WWE" as "normally, all parties would receive an executed copy of the contract."
McMahon stepped down as TKO executive chairman last Friday, a day after the lawsuit became public. On Friday, it became public that McMahon has been under federal investigation for the allegations that first surfaced in 2022.
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