The woman chosen to be head of education in the United States is said to have turned a blind eye for many years to cases of sexual assault on children.
On Wednesday, Linda McMahon, who founded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) with her husband, Vince McMahon, was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to become Secretary of Education.
However, according to a lawsuit filed in Maryland last month, she tolerated an employee of the largest wrestling organization sexually exploiting children as early as the 1980s, reports CNN.
Linda McMahon, who denies the allegations against her, allegedly allowed Melvin Phillips Jr. to use his position as announcer to recruit young boys aged 13 to 15 to help him set up and take down rings in view of events.
However, Phillips Jr. instead took the opportunity to sexually assault them in the presence of wrestlers and WWE employees, according to the lawsuit.
AFP
The five plaintiffs behind the suit, who say they suffered mental and emotional effects from the abuse, accuse Vince and Linda McMahon of negligence as employers and of failing to protect the alleged victims.
According to the suit, the future Secretary of Education and her husband were aware as early as the mid-1980s of the “special and unnatural interest” of Phillips Jr. The latter, however, was kept employed until the 1990s.
The couple had actually fired Phillips Jr. in 1988 after rumors of sexual abuse continued to mount, but reportedly rehired him six weeks later under the condition “that he stay away from the children,” perhaps we read in the court document.
“This civil lawsuit based on allegations dating back more than thirty years is filled with slanderous lies, exaggerations and false statements regarding Linda McMahon,” replied her lawyer.
Rumors of sexual abuse surrounding Melvin Phillips Jr. have been circulating for decades. They were first reported by the New York Post in 1992, but no criminal charges have been filed to date. He died in 2012.
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