A former employee of WWE sued founder Vince McMahon, alleging he abused and sexually exploited her when he was CEO of the wrestling-entertainment company.
She alleged that McMahon allegedly trafficked her to other men “as a pawn to secure talent deals” with prospective wrestlers the company was recruiting.
The former WWE employee, Janel Grant, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut Thursday naming McMahon, WWE and former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis as defendants.
The lawsuit alleges McMahon, Laurinaitis and WWE violated the Trafficking Victims Prevention Act, and includes claims of civil battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in relation to years-long s€xual and emotional abuse Grant said she endured as an employee of WWE.
The lawsuit comes after TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE and UFC, inked a 10-year deal with Netflix for “Monday Night Raw” valued at $500 million per year, delivering a significant step-up in fees for the WWE franchise. Netflix reps did not immediately provide comment on the suit against McMahon.
Vince McMahon stepped down as WWE’s chief executive in 2022 amid an investigation by the company’s board into alleged hush-money payments to women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
McMahon returned to the company in January 2023 as executive chairman to head up efforts to sell WWE, which last year merged with UFC in a deal engineered by Endeavor.
According to Grant’s lawsuit, McMahon and Laurinaitis — on WWE property and using WWE funding — both engaged in s€xual assault and trafficking of Grant “both for their own pleasure and as a pawn to secure talent deals with prospective wrestlers they were recruiting.”
McMahon “repeatedly used s€x toys named after other WWE employees, wrestlers and performers to s€xually groom Ms. Grant for trafficking to those same people,” per the suit.
In addition, according to the legal complaint, Vince McMahon “would shower Ms. Grant with gifts and empty work promotions, while at the same time threatening her livelihood and her reputation if she wouldn’t succumb to his increasingly depraved s€xual demands, including disseminating p0rn0graphy of Ms. Grant to ‘thousands’ of individuals and engaging in sex acts with other WWE employees — some of whom were complete strangers.”
According to the lawsuit, after McMahon’s wife learned of the relationship, Grant “was abruptly pressured to resign from the WWE and forced to sign an NDA days before a major financial deadline for the organization under the guise that Mr. McMahon would ‘protect her’ financially and pay her $3 million.
However, Mr. McMahon later refused to make payments to Ms. Grant, falsely claiming that she had leaked information to the press,” according to the suit.