Dangerous Incorporated
01-13-2007, 12:07 AM
FORMER WWE LICENSING AGENT ADMITS ROLE IN KICKBACK SCHEME
Stanley Shenker, a former licensing agent for World Wrestling Entertainment, has admitted to participating in a $1 million kickback to a WWE insider in exchange for having business directed his way. According to an Associated Press story, Shenker, the sole corporate officer of Stanley Shenker and Associates, which provided licensing services to WWE, admitted in U.S. District Court that he had come to an agreement with Jim Bell, at the time WWE's senior vice president of licensing and merchandising, to pay Bell kickbacks in exchange for Bell sending WWE business his way. WWE had no knowledge that Bell was getting these payments.
The two ran the fraud from 1998 to 2002, with Shenker paying Bell around $950,000. The two created fake paperwork, not only to trick WWE, but to allow Shenker to deduct the payments as a business expense on his taxes. Shenker faces up to five years in prison and fines totaling $4 million dollars when he is sentenced in April. Bell is currently awaiting sentencing on related charges that he pled guilty to in 2005.
Bell actually can be seen in the movie Beyond The Mat, discussing WWE's merchandising and in a scene where he shows new products to Vince McMahon.
Source: PWInsider
$1m? Fake paperwork to trick WWE? Bye bye dude!!
Stanley Shenker, a former licensing agent for World Wrestling Entertainment, has admitted to participating in a $1 million kickback to a WWE insider in exchange for having business directed his way. According to an Associated Press story, Shenker, the sole corporate officer of Stanley Shenker and Associates, which provided licensing services to WWE, admitted in U.S. District Court that he had come to an agreement with Jim Bell, at the time WWE's senior vice president of licensing and merchandising, to pay Bell kickbacks in exchange for Bell sending WWE business his way. WWE had no knowledge that Bell was getting these payments.
The two ran the fraud from 1998 to 2002, with Shenker paying Bell around $950,000. The two created fake paperwork, not only to trick WWE, but to allow Shenker to deduct the payments as a business expense on his taxes. Shenker faces up to five years in prison and fines totaling $4 million dollars when he is sentenced in April. Bell is currently awaiting sentencing on related charges that he pled guilty to in 2005.
Bell actually can be seen in the movie Beyond The Mat, discussing WWE's merchandising and in a scene where he shows new products to Vince McMahon.
Source: PWInsider
$1m? Fake paperwork to trick WWE? Bye bye dude!!