A federal appeals court has ruled that a former attorney for Vince McMahon improperly withheld documents from a grand jury investigating McMahon’s handling of multimillion-dollar settlements with two female employees who accused him of sexual abuse.

The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision, determining that the documents were not protected under attorney-client privilege due to the “crime or fraud” exception. The identities of those involved remain undisclosed.

According to the Associated Press, the appeals court supported the lower court’s findings that prosecutors had reasonable grounds to believe McMahon and his lawyer illegally “circumvented” WWE’s internal controls, created false records to conceal the settlements, and made false or misleading statements to WWE auditors. This was despite McMahon personally funding the settlements rather than using company funds.

The appellate panel noted that while McMahon’s attorney provided numerous materials in response to the grand jury subpoena, they withheld 208 documents under claims of attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors subsequently sought to compel the release of those records, leading to the appeal, which was decided on Monday.

The appellate judges wrote, “Because the settlement agreements resolving the Victims’ claims were ‘structured and negotiated … to keep them hidden from (the Company),’ the district court found that ‘all communications about the claims and settlement agreements were made in furtherance of the criminal scheme to keep (the Company) and its auditors unaware of the allegations.’”

This ruling follows McMahon’s recent settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 10, in which he agreed to pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse WWE $1.33 million for violations of the Securities Exchange Act. At the time, McMahon stated, “The case is closed.”

The current status of the grand jury investigation remains uncertain, as the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan has declined to comment.

Meanwhile, on January 31, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed an amended lawsuit against McMahon, former Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, and WWE, introducing new evidence just over a year after the initial filing.