The Securities and Exchange Commission charged former WWE boss Vince McMahon with violating federal securities laws by failing to inform his pro wrestling company’s board of settlement agreements related to sexual conduct totaling $10.5 million with two women on behalf of himself and the WWE, the SEC said Friday.

McMahon, whose wife Linda has been nominated as Department of Education secretary by President-elect Donald Trump, agreed to settle the administrative charges and will pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse the WWE $1.33 million after consenting to an order finding that he violated the Securities Exchange Act, the SEC said.

The SEC said that McMahon’s failure to tell WWE’s board, legal department, accountants or auditor about the settlements caused the company to make “material misstatements” in its 2018 and 2021 financial statements.”

“Company executives cannot enter into material agreements on behalf of the company they serve and withhold that information from the company’s control functions and auditor,” said Thomas Smith Jr., associate regional director in the SEC’s New York regional office.

The settlements came to light in spring 2022 after the WWE’s board held a special meeting to discuss allegations against McMahon, the then-chairman and CEO of the company. He denied the claims.

An investigation authorized by the board within months discovered about $14.6 million in unrecorded expenses paid or to be paid by McMahon, 79, in connection with settlement agreements with five women from 2006 through 2022 that should have been recorded in WWE’s financial statements.

McMahon resigned as CEO and chairman in July 2022, and a month later WWE filed amended financial statements with the SEC for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

McMahon returned as WWE’s executive chairman in January 2023, and in September 2023 merged with the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Competition and Endeavor Group holdings, forming a new entity, TKO Group Holdings, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

One of the settlement agreements detailed by the SEC obligated McMahon to pay $3 million to a former WWE employee in exchange for her silence about a relationship with him and her releasing potential legal claims against McMahon and the company.

That woman was not named.

But former WWE employee Janel Grant last year filed a federal lawsuit against McMahon, accusing him of sexual assault and trafficking, and alleging that he had agreed to pay her $3 million as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Grant says McMahon only ended up paying her $1 million.

McMahon resigned as executive chairman of TKO Group on the heels of Grant’s lawsuit, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Connecticut.

The other undisclosed deal required McMahon to pay a former independent contractor for WWE who alleged that “McMahon assaulted her and derailed her career after she refused to engage in a sexual relationship with him” in 2005, according to the SEC order.

The SEC said that because the agreements with the women were not recorded, WWE overstated its net income for 2018 by about 8% and its 2021 net income by about 1.7%.

“McMahon received incentive-based compensation and realized profits from the sale of WWE common stock during the 12-month period following the filing of financial statements that WWE subsequently restated due to the facts described herein,” the SEC’s order said. “McMahon has not fully reimbursed WWE or its successor in interest for these profits and incentive-based compensation and therefore violated Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.”

McMahon, in a statement to NBC News, said, “The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be.”

“As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading,” McMahon said.

“In 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. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.”

McMahon and his wife, Linda, are friends of Trump.

Linda McMahon served as head of the federal Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term in the White House.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged former WWE boss Vince McMahon with violating federal securities laws by failing to inform his pro wrestling company’s board of settlement agreements related to sexual conduct totaling $10.5 million with two women on behalf of himself and the WWE, the SEC said Friday.

McMahon, whose wife Linda has been nominated as Department of Education secretary by President-elect Donald Trump, agreed to settle the administrative charges and will pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse the WWE $1.33 million after consenting to an order finding that he violated the Securities Exchange Act, the SEC said.

The SEC said that McMahon’s failure to tell WWE’s board, legal department, accountants or auditor about the settlements caused the company to make “material misstatements” in its 2018 and 2021 financial statements.”

“Company executives cannot enter into material agreements on behalf of the company they serve and withhold that information from the company’s control functions and auditor,” said Thomas Smith Jr., associate regional director in the SEC’s New York regional office.

The settlements came to light in spring 2022 after the WWE’s board held a special meeting to discuss allegations against McMahon, the then-chairman and CEO of the company. He denied the claims.

An investigation authorized by the board within months discovered about $14.6 million in unrecorded expenses paid or to be paid by McMahon, 79, in connection with settlement agreements with five women from 2006 through 2022 that should have been recorded in WWE’s financial statements.

McMahon resigned as CEO and chairman in July 2022, and a month later WWE filed amended financial statements with the SEC for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

McMahon returned as WWE’s executive chairman in January 2023, and in September 2023 merged with the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Competition and Endeavor Group holdings, forming a new entity, TKO Group Holdings, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

One of the settlement agreements detailed by the SEC obligated McMahon to pay $3 million to a former WWE employee in exchange for her silence about a relationship with him and her releasing potential legal claims against McMahon and the company.

That woman was not named.

But former WWE employee Janel Grant last year filed a federal lawsuit against McMahon, accusing him of sexual assault and trafficking, and alleging that he had agreed to pay her $3 million as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Grant says McMahon only ended up paying her $1 million.

McMahon resigned as executive chairman of TKO Group on the heels of Grant’s lawsuit, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Connecticut.

The other undisclosed deal required McMahon to pay a former independent contractor for WWE who alleged that “McMahon assaulted her and derailed her career after she refused to engage in a sexual relationship with him” in 2005, according to the SEC order.

The SEC said that because the agreements with the women were not recorded, WWE overstated its net income for 2018 by about 8% and its 2021 net income by about 1.7%.

“McMahon received incentive-based compensation and realized profits from the sale of WWE common stock during the 12-month period following the filing of financial statements that WWE subsequently restated due to the facts described herein,” the SEC’s order said. “McMahon has not fully reimbursed WWE or its successor in interest for these profits and incentive-based compensation and therefore violated Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.”

McMahon, in a statement to NBC News, said, “The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be.”

“As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading,” McMahon said.

“In 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. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.”

McMahon and his wife, Linda, are friends of Trump.

Linda McMahon served as head of the federal Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term in the White House.