Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education Secretary Pick, Named in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

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.

Ms. McMahon and her husband, Vince McMahon, ran the wrestling empire beginning in the early 1980s, with Ms. McMahon working as its president and chief executive officer until 2009. Over those years, their company grew into a cultural force, filling arenas and elevating characters like Hulk Hogan and the Rock into household names.

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

The lawsuit claims that the five boys were sexually abused by the organization’s ringside announcer and ring crew chief, Melvin Phillips Jr., who died in 2012. It was filed in Maryland against Mr. McMahon, Ms. McMahon, W.W.E. and TKO Group Holdings. The suit accuses the McMahons and the other defendants of criminal negligence by allowing Mr. Phillips to remain at the company for years. The plaintiffs are not named.

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

“We finally have a chance to hold accountable those who allowed and enabled the open, rampant sexual abuse of these young boys,” Greg Gutzler, a lawyer at DiCello Levitt who is leading the litigation, said in a statement. “That so many were aware of the sexual abuse of the ring boys and did nothing to prevent or stop it is simply unconscionable.”