The Securities and Exchange Commission and former WWE CEO Vince McMahon have reached a settlement following a prolonged investigation.

The SEC and Vince McMahon, co-founder of WWE and former CEO, have reached a settlement after a years-long investigation into undisclosed settlements.

An investigation was initiated by the federal authorities to ascertain whether McMahon informed the board and other individuals about the two settlement agreements worth over $10 million that he had signed with two women in order to prevent them from disclosing potential accusations against himself and WWE.

McMahon agreed to stop violating certain provisions, pay a $400,000 civil penalty, and reimburse WWE approximately $1.3 million, as the SEC found.

On Friday, McMahon issued a statement claiming the situation was due to "accounting errors."

"The investigation into the matter has been concluded. After three years of investigation by various government agencies, there has been much speculation about the outcome. However, as today's resolution shows, most of the speculation was unfounded and misleading. In the end, it was discovered that there were minor accounting errors related to personal payments made while I was CEO of WWE. I am relieved that this matter is now behind me."

Federal prosecutors declined to comment.

In 2019 and 2022, two agreements were signed by McMahon, one of which required the former employee to receive $3 million in exchange for not disclosing her relationship with McMahon and releasing any potential claims against WWE and McMahon.

McMahon was obligated to pay $7.5 million to a former WWE independent contractor in exchange for her agreement not to disclose her allegations against McMahon and her release of potential claims against WWE and McMahon, as per the SEC.

In 2022, McMahon resigned as chairman and CEO of the wrestling promotion due to an internal investigation following allegations of hush-money agreements. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, took over his leadership role.

McMahon announced his retirement from WWE a few weeks after stepping down, but returned as executive chairman in 2023. He resigned from TKO, a company resulting from a merger between WWE and UFC's parent company, Zuffa, in 2024. His resignation came after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and another former executive of serious sexual misconduct.

McMahon maintained he committed no wrongdoing following the filing of the lawsuit.

The commission stated that McMahon's failure to disclose agreements to WWE's board, legal department, accountants, financial reporting personnel, and auditors resulted in the circumvention of the company's internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements in its 2018 and 2021 financial statements.

The SEC's order revealed that WWE overstated its 2018 net income by approximately 8% and its 2021 net income by about 1.7% because the payments required by the 2019 and 2022 agreements were not recorded.

In August 2022, WWE restated its financial statements after learning of the settlement agreements.

According to Thomas P. Smith Jr., associate regional director in the New York Regional Office, company executives are prohibited from entering into significant agreements on behalf of the company they represent and withholding that information from the company's oversight functions and auditor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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