A girl who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Vince McMahon behind a limousine nearly 40 years ago wants the previous World Wrestling Entertainment CEO to pay nearly $12 million, in line with a report.
Rita Chatterton, 65, the primary female referee in WWE history, initially broke her silence in regards to the alleged rape in 1992.
McMahon has long denied her allegation.
Chatterton’s attorney, John Clune, wrote a requirement letter to McMahon’s lawyer on Nov. 3, in line with The Wall Street Journal.
A legal expert who spoke to The Post said that demand letters from attorneys who seek significant amounts of compensation are sometimes a precursor to a lawsuit.
Within the letter, Clune demanded $11.75 million in damages from McMahon. He wrote that the results of McMahon’s alleged actions were “hard to overstate.”
Vince McMahon is reportedly balking at a requirement for a $11.75 million payment from former WWE referee Rita Chatterton, who alleges that he raped her in 1986.Zuffa LLC
Chatterton “has suffered years of ongoing depression, substance abuse, disordered eating, lost income, and overall a decreased quality of life,” in line with the letter.
Chatterton alleged that McMahon demanded sexual favors from her as a precondition to her receiving a $500,000-a-year contract from WWE.
McMahon retired as CEO and chairman of WWE earlier this 12 months after it was reported that he authorized hush money payments to several women.AP
“He promised me half-a-million dollars a 12 months,” she claimed to Latest York Magazine earlier this 12 months.
Former pro wrestler Leonard Inzitari told the magazine that Chatterton confided in him after the alleged rape in 1986.
“I remember it prefer it was yesterday,” Inzitari told the outlet. “She was a wreck. She was shaking. She was crying.”
Rita Chatterton, 65, alleges that McMahon raped her behind a limousine in Latest York in 1986.
Inzitari, whose stage name was Mario Mancini, said soon after the alleged incident, he found Chatterton standing by herself near the wrestling ring and when she saw him, she burst into tears and told him she was in McMahon’s limo when he “took his penis out.”
“He kinda forced my head down there, and I made it known I wasn’t concerned with doing that,” Inzitari recalled Chatterton telling him, in line with Latest York Magazine.
McMahon’s former role as CEO has been taken up by his daughter, Stephanie McMahon (seen next to her father in July) and Nick Khan (not pictured). Wrestler Triple H is seen far right.Zuffa LLC
“Then, [McMahon] pulled me on top of him,” she claimed to Inzitari.
Soon afterward, “he was inside her,” in line with Inzitari.
Clune declined comment when reached by The Post.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for one more woman, a former spa manager, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by McMahon at a Southern California resort in 2011, has been in regular contact with McMahon’s longtime attorney Jerry McDevitt since July, in line with the Journal. The incident has never been previously reported, the Journal said.
The Post reached out to McMahon for comment. He declined to comment when reached by the Journal. The Post also reached out for comment from McDevitt, who didn’t reply to requests from the Journal.
Chatterton made history because the first-ever female referee within the history of the WWE.WWF
Each Latest York and California recently passed a law allowing sexual abuse victims a one-year window to file legal claims beyond the statute of limitations starting in January.
The contents of the demand letter from the spa manager’s attorney has not been revealed.
“Yes, demand letters just like the one received by McMahon typically precede lawsuits, especially where the quantity demanded is so significant,” Robert Freund, an attorney based in Los Angeles, told The Post.
“Because McMahon has reportedly said he is not going to entertain a settlement, the likelihood of a lawsuit to follow is high.”
Based on the Journal, McMahon has told friends that he refuses to pay settlements to Chatterton and the previous spa manager.
In July, McMahon announced that he was retiring as CEO and chairman of WWE after the corporate launched an investigation into alleged hush money payments he made to several women.
McMahon has reportedly regretted the choice to step down — a move that he says was the results of bad advice from his inner circle.
The mogul now is alleged to imagine that had he stayed on as CEO, the investigations would have run their course and he could have weathered the storm.
McMahon, a flamboyant showman, is credited with turning the WWE into a worldwide empire.AP
The Wall Street Journal was the primary to report earlier this 12 months that McMahon authorized greater than $12 million in payments to several women in exchange for his or her silence on allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity.
McMahon, who initially stepped aside on a short lived basis after it was learned this past spring that he paid $3 million to a paralegal who alleged that they had a sexual relationship, was replaced as CEO by his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan.
Vince McMahon was initially presupposed to proceed overseeing WWE’s creative content throughout the investigation into the paralegal’s claims.
Chatterton first went public together with her allegations in 1992.Tribune Entertainment
But then the Journal reported that Vince McMahon had agreed to pay the significantly larger sum of $12 million.
4 women — all formerly affiliated with WWE — signed agreements with Vince McMahon that bar them from discussing their relationships with him, the Journal previously reported, citing people aware of the deals and documents it reviewed.
Vince McMahon has said he’s cooperating with the corporate’s investigation.
Vince McMahon, whose net value reached an estimated $3.4 billion, turned what was then generally known as the World Wrestling Federation from a fledgling small business into a worldwide powerhouse that generates north of $1 billion in revenue every year.
The WWE has television contracts with Fox and NBCUniversal in addition to a longstanding partnership with A&E.