The shareholder lawsuit filed against former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon continues to expand, with more individuals close to McMahon now being drawn into the legal proceedings. According to a report from Wrestlenomics, two of Vince McMahon’s former personal assistants, Paul Mangieri and Mickey Mangieri, have been subpoenaed for documents related to the case. The lawsuit, which is currently in the Delaware Chancery Court, also has depositions scheduled for representatives from Liberty Media and the private equity firm KKR.
The lawsuit names Vince McMahon, current WWE President Nick Khan, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and former executives George Barrios and Michelle Wilson as defendants. The core allegation is that McMahon orchestrated the merger of WWE with Endeavor, the parent company of the UFC, in a premeditated plan to ensure he could remain in a position of power.
The suit claims that in doing so, McMahon breached his fiduciary duty by not taking the necessary steps to maximize the company’s value for its shareholders. The plaintiffs argue that McMahon’s personal desire to stay in control superseded the financial interests of the company’s investors. A number of high-profile executives have already been deposed in the case, including former Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, current TKO Group Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer, and several independent WWE board members who were in place at the time of the merger, such as Steve Koonin and Steve Pamon.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of challenges for Vince McMahon, who purchased the company from his father in 1982. He initially retired from WWE in 2022 after a Board of Directors investigation uncovered millions of dollars in hush money payments made to former female employees with whom he allegedly had affairs. However, he forced his way back into the company in 2023 with the explicit goal of facilitating a sale. This led to the merger with Endeavor and the formation of TKO Group Holdings, a new publicly traded company where McMahon was installed as the Executive Chairman.
His tenure with TKO was short-lived, as he resigned from the company in 2024 following a lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant, which leveled serious allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking against him. Since that resignation, McMahon has not been involved in the professional wrestling industry in any capacity. As the shareholder lawsuit progresses, with more depositions and document requests being made, the legal scrutiny surrounding McMahon’s final year of power in WWE continues to intensify.
