WWE’s Vince McMahon has been accused of sex trafficking in a new lawsuit from a woman who previously received a payout from McMahon to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
In a new report from The Wall Street Journal, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit on Thursday that claims she was “abused and sexually exploited” by McMahon while he was still chief executive of WWE. Grant alleges that McMahon promised Grant career advancement and then exploited and trafficked her to other men inside the company.
According to Grant’s lawsuit, McMahon and another WWE executive once locked her in an office in WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, in 2021 and “took turns sexually assaulting her while other staff were working.”
Another incident alleged by Grant claims that McMahon once locked her inside his private locker room at WWE’s HQ and forced himself on her. He later had a $15,000 gift card to Bloomingdale’s delivered to her.
The lawsuit also contains screenshots of text messages said to be from McMahon to Grant, one of which sees the former WWE head telling Grant “i’m the only one who owns U and controls who I want to f— U.”
Other instances of sexual misconduct from the lawsuit allege that in 2021, McMahon shared explicit photos of Grant with a WWE star — who WSJ claims is Brock Lesnar — in an effort to get him to re-sign with the company. McMahon then told Grant in texts that “part of the deal was f— U,” and that Grant was asked to send videos and photos to the star.
Grant was one of a handful of women paid by McMahon to sign an NDA
The report goes on to note that Grant was one of a handful of women who signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2022 in which McMahon agreed to pay $3 million to her for her not to discuss their relationship.
At the time, WWE had said it conducted an internal investigation within its own board that also uncovered several payments to other women as well, totaling $12 million to four separate women.
According to Grant’s lawsuit, McMahon did pay her $1 million after McMahon’s wife, Linda, found out about the relationship in 2022 but stopped payments afterward. In part, her lawsuit is seeking to void the agreement and recoup other damages.
Following the initial news of sexual misconduct and payment to women, McMahon retired from WWE in 2022, only to return in 2023, electing himself to the board and ousting several other directors. At the time, McMahon claimed that he was returning to shepherd a sale of the company, in which he sold WWE to Endeavor Group.
However, McMahon has retained a role in the company ever since and is now the executive chairman and a major shareholder of the newly formed TKO Group.
