Linda McMahon, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice for education secretary, has been accused in a recent lawsuit of failing to stop a ringside announcer for World Wrestling Entertainment from grooming and sexually abusing children in the 1980s and 1990s.

McMahon and her husband, Vince McMahon, ran the wrestling empire beginning in the early 1980s, with McMahon working as its president and CEO until 2009. Over those years, their company grew into a cultural force.

Allegations that underage boys were abused by employees have dogged the organisation for decades. The recent lawsuit was filed in October by five former “ring boys” who ran errands and helped set up before matches for WWE in the 1980s.

The lawsuit claims that the five boys were sexually abused by the organisation’s ringside announcer and ring crew chief, Melvin Phillips Jr., who died in 2012. It was filed in Maryland against McMahon, McMahon, WWE and TKO Group Holdings. The suit accuses the McMahons and the other defendants of criminal negligence by allowing Phillips to remain at the company for years.

The suit says the McMahons were aware of credible abuse accusations against Phillips and other employees, and tolerated them anyway. It does not accuse McMahon of sexual misconduct.

New York Times News Service