Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have dropped a criminal probe that focused on whether former World Wrestling Entertainment boss Vince McMahon tried to cover up multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, his lawyer told The Post.<\/p>\n
The revelation comes as appeals judges on Friday revealed that a grand jury had considered whether the 78-year-old billionaire broke the law by hiding allegations of sexual misconduct\u00a0from two\u00a0former two female employees, whom he ended up paying $10.5 million to keep quiet.<\/p>\n
The ruling from a three-judge panel does not name McMahon but refers to \u201cthe subject of an ongoing grand jury investigation concerning whether, as CEO, he engaged in a criminal scheme to circumvent the company\u2019s internal accounting controls\u00a0and mislead company auditors in order to conceal multiple allegations of sexual misconduct raised against him by two former company employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sources familiar with the matter confirmed to The Post that McMahon is the former CEO referenced in the ruling.<\/p>\n
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision suggests that the case is still active. But McMahon\u2019s lawyer Robert W. Allen, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor, stressed Tuesday that the prosecutors have ended the probe without asking the grand jury to bring an indictment against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is simply the result of an appeal of a procedural matter that was argued five months ago,\u201d Allen told The Post. \u201cWe have been in consistent communication with the government since that time and understand, with no ambiguity, that the investigation has definitively concluded and will not result in charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors\u2019 apparent decision to abandon the case comes despite federal judge Valerie Caproni ruling in June 2024 that the government had \u201cestablished probable cause to believe\u201d that McMahon and one of his former lawyers broke the law. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s evidence that they \u201ccircumvented [the Company\u2019s] internal controls and created false books and records,\u201d \u201cconcealed the Victims\u2019 claims and settlement agreements from [the Company],\u201d and \u201cmade false and misleading statements to the Company\u2019s auditors,\u201d Caproni\u2019s ruling said.<\/p>\n
Both Caproni and the appeals panel \u2014 Judges Gerard Lynch, Beth Robinson and Sarah Merriam \u2014 ruled in favor of prosecutors on an evidence issue, writing that McMahon\u2019s conversations with his attorneys were not subject to attorney-client privilege.<\/p>\n
The appeals court has seen files showing that McMahon\u2019s ex-lawyer \u201cspecifically instructed\u201d him to talk about the payoffs \u201cvia text instead of email for the express purpose of avoiding the Company gaining knowledge of it,\u201d Friday\u2019s ruling reads.<\/p>\n
Those facts and others provide \u201ca sufficient basis for a prudent person to believe that the settlement negotiations and resulting attorney-client communications were structured and intended to conceal the resulting agreements from the Company,\u201d Judge Lynch wrote on behalf of the panel.<\/p>\n
But prosecutors decided to drop the case at some point between Sept. 18 and Jan. 10, when the Securities and Exchange Commission, in the waning days of the Biden administration, announced that it had reached a settlement with McMahon to resolve the cover-up claims, a source familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n
When the SEC deal was announced, McMahon released a statement implying that he would not face criminal charges \u2014 and dismissing the seriousness of the probe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE,\u201d McMahon said in the statement. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wall Street Journal first broke the news in February 2024 that federal prosecutors were eyeing McMahon and had interviewed more than one of his accusers.\u00a0The newspaper reported\u00a0that the feds were looking into allegations of \u201csexual assault\u201d and \u201csex trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Friday\u2019s ruling, which does not mention sex trafficking, indicates that the probe focused instead on whether McMahon broke the law by covering up the allegations.<\/p>\n
Several details in the decision match up exactly with public information about McMahon and the company he led for decades.<\/p>\n
For example, the ruling references $10.5 million paid out by a \u201cformer Chief Executive Officer of a publicly traded company\u201d to two women who accused him of sexual misconduct. That\u2019s the exact amount McMahon paid the two women, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.<\/p>\n
The ruling also mentions that the CEO\u2019s company announced on July 25, 2022 plans to revise its \u201cfinancial statements\u201d for 2019, 2020, and parts of 2021 and 2022 to account for $14.6 million in total \u201csettlement payments\u201d made by the CEO.<\/p>\n
WWE\u00a0announced in a regulatory filing that day\u00a0that it was taking those exact steps.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the SDNY declined to comment.<\/p>\n
If the criminal probe has in fact ended without an indictment, it will mark the second time that McMahon emerged from a federal law enforcement probe without being convicted of crimes.<\/p>\n
McMahon, a longtime Trump supporter, went on trial in 1994 in Brooklyn federal court on charges of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids to his wrestlers. But a jury ended up acquitting him after an 18-day trial that featured testimony from wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan.<\/p>\n
McMahon\u2019s wife, Linda McMahon, faces a Senate confirmation hearing Thursday as Department of Education secretary nominee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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