Vince McMahon, the majority owner and former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., is facing legal demands from two women who allege that he sexually assaulted them, according to internal documents and people familiar with the legal negotiations.
In a Nov. 3 demand letter to McMahon’s representative, a lawyer for former wrestling referee Rita Chatterton asked for $11.75 million in damages after she publicly accused McMahon three decades ago of raping her in a limousine. McMahon has long denied the allegations. The demand letter was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
In a separate November email to McMahon’s attorney, a lawyer for a former spa manager said that McMahon assaulted his client in 2011 at a California resort, an incident previously unreported in the media.
The private communications between lawyers for the women and McMahon’s longtime attorney, Jerry McDevitt, come as WWE
WWE,
tries to move past McMahon’s 40-year tenure as the company’s leader and into a new era.
McMahon retired as WWE chief executive and chairman in July amid a board investigation of sexual misconduct claims against him and after the Journal reported that he had agreed to pay more than $12 million in secret settlements since 2006 to suppress such allegations.