Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education Secretary Nominee, Faces Lawsuit For Allegedly Enabling Child Sex Abuse While Trying To Gain Senate Confirmation

Co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment Linda McMahon, who is President-elect Donald Trump nominee to lead the Department of Education, has been accused in a recent lawsuit of enabling the sexual exploitation of children by a WWE employee. 

McMahon is the former CEO of WWE, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon. As one of the company’s heads, she oversaw its transformation into a billion-dollar media empire. 

In 2009, she stepped down from her role at the company to run for Senate in Connecticut but lost twice in 2010 and 2012. She worked in Trump’s first Cabinet as the administrator of the Small Business Administration before stepping down in 2019 to lead a pro-Trump super PAC.

The recent lawsuit raises questions about the oversight of child safety at WWE. It alleges that the McMahons, WWE and TKO Group Holdings knowingly allowed ringside announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. to sexually exploit children.

The lawsuit alleges Philips recruited children to help him set up and take down wrestling rings at WWE events. This job was a cover for sexually exploiting the children, often in front of wrestlers and executives in the locker room area. According to the lawsuit, he also filmed the sexual assaults.

The lawsuit was filed in October in Baltimore County, Maryland, for five boys between 13 and 15 when Phillips recruited them to work as “Ring Boys.” These boys say they suffered from mental and emotional abuse.

The lawsuit alleges, “Phillips lured and manipulated the young boys with promises of meeting famous wrestlers and attending the highly popular wrestling shows, experiences that were otherwise unattainable for these kids. The McMahons, WWE and TKE Holdings allowed Phillips and others to engage in, and foster, the WWE’s rampant culture of sexual abuse.”

The lawsuit names McMahons as negligent employer and failed to protect the plaintiffs, who are demanding over $30,000 in damages.

Phillips worked for WWE from the 1970s through the 1990s and died in 2012. 

The lawsuit alleges that the McMahons knew of Phillips’ abuse, and that Vince McMahon admitted they knew during the mid-1980s that Phillips had a peculiar interest in young boys.

An attorney for Linda McMahon, Laura Brevetti, said in a statement that the allegations are false, “This civil lawsuit based upon 30-plus-year-old allegations is filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations regarding Linda McMahon. Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit and, without doubt, ultimately succeed.”

Phillips alleged abuse was first reported by the New York Post in 1992, “It was common knowledge in the WWE – among the ring crew, wrestlers, and executives – that Phillips surrounded himself with a posse of underaged Ring Boys, including when he traveled across state lines and stayed in hotel rooms with the children.”

Phillips was fired in 1988 after allegations continued to arise but was rehired six weeks later on the condition he would not engage with minors, but he allegedly continued the sexual exploitation.

A partner at DiCello Levitt stated that under the 2023 Maryland Child Victims Act, it is recognized that “survivors of childhood sexual abuse often wait years before disclosing the abuse to others due to the psychological and emotional trauma.”