A former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee has filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and others, alleging she endured “physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, and trafficking” during her tenure with the company.
Janel Grant, the employee who complained, filed it in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on Thursday. In the complaint, Grant alleges that Vince McMahon, WWE executive John Laurinaitis, and the company are involved. She accuses McMahon of soliciting sex in exchange for a job and claims he abused her during their physical relationship, even at the office, while she was employed by WWE.
In the document, Grant asserted that she reached out to McMahon after informing her building’s resident manager of her job need. The WWE co-founder befriended her, pledging an unspecified role at WWE. However, during initial job-related meetings, McMahon displayed an “increased lack of boundaries,” including greeting her in his “underwear,” “repeatedly asking for hugs,” and spending “hours” divulging intimate details of his life, as outlined in the complaint.
She further alleged that McMahon pressured her into a “physical relationship” in exchange for employment, to which she eventually acquiesced. Commencing her role as an “administrator-coordinator” in WWE’s legal department on June 17, 2019, she realized, as stated in the complaint, that “McMahon expected the physical relationship to continue as part of her employment.”
Almost a year into their physical relationship, Grant claimed McMahon shared “explicit photographs and videos” of her with WWE’s tech team, executives, producers, and others. Additionally, she accused McMahon of recruiting individuals, including Laurinaitis, for “sexual relations” with her. Grant further alleged McMahon “directed” her to visit him before her shift for “sexual encounters.”
The complaint details alleged physical encounters as “acts of extreme cruelty and degradation,” including a claimed threesome where McMahon defecated on her. Grant also asserted that McMahon and Laurinaitis “sexually assaulted” her when they “cornered” her behind a locked door and “forcibly touched her.”
According to the complaint, McMahon allegedly “ordered” Grant to keep the relationship secret but later terminated her from the company when his wife discovered it in January 2022. Grant claimed McMahon had her sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) “in exchange for payments,” which he subsequently halted.
Grant further alleged that after her termination, McMahon attempted to “traffic” her to a WWE star scheduled to visit New York City for a “live event and TV taping in March 2022.” The complaint stated that the defendants’ predatory conduct has left Grant “physically and mentally crippled,” leading to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation.
These symptoms reportedly resulted in her termination from a subsequent job running her building’s operations, as she struggled to leave her home for extended periods.
A spokesperson for WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, informed NBC News, “Mr. McMahon does not control TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE. While this matter pre-dates our TKO executive team’s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.”
In June 2022, McMahon voluntarily stepped down from his position after WWE initiated an investigation into allegations that he paid a former employee $3 million to conceal their affair. Following his departure, Stephanie McMahon, his daughter, assumed the role of interim co-CEO and Chairwoman in July 2022.
