Vince McMahon and Nick Khan sanctioned in WWE merger lawsuit

According to a report from bloomberglaw.com, a Delaware judge ruled that Vince McMahon and WWE President Nick Khan “acted recklessly” by allowing messages related to WWE’s merger with UFC to be deleted from the app Signal. As a result, the court imposed sanctions that could weaken their defense in an upcoming trial over claims that Vince manipulated the merger process to maintain control of WWE and favored a deal with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel over potentially higher offers.

Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster said the court will presume certain allegations about Vince and Khan to be true unless the defendants can strongly disprove them. Shareholders are challenging the fairness of the $21.4 billion WWE-UFC merger, arguing Vince influenced the process improperly after returning to WWE amid misconduct allegations.

The judge also noted that WWE leadership had twice been instructed by the company’s assistant general counsel to preserve all documents and electronic communications, including texts and instant messages, because litigation was likely. Despite those warnings, Vince, Khan, and others allegedly failed to preserve the evidence.