WWE Founder and former CEO Vince McMahon is in hot water after allegations of sex trafficking by his former employee Janel Grant.
Grant indicted McMahon in Connecticut federal court on Thursday. The WWE leader will have to face a federal criminal investigation as prosecutors are determining if he had broken any federal law based on the claims of his former employee.
McMahon also disclosed to a close friend that federal officials had seized his mobile phone.
WWE’s former employee alleged that she was a “victim of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and trafficking.”
Her complaint states, “When McMahon pushed Ms. Grant for a physical relationship in return for long-promised employment at WWE, she felt trapped in an impossible situation: submitting to McMahon’s sexual demands or facing ruin.”
The former chief executive denied allegations against him and since then stepped down from the board of the TKO group and the TKO board of directors.
“I stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,” declared McMahon.
Grant asserts that “Given McMahon’s omnipotent position at WWE, coercion was inherent in his increasingly depraved sexual demands.”
She also tagged WWE’s former head of talent relations and general manager John Laurinaitis whom she claims she had a sexual encounter before she began working in WWE’s legal department as an entry-level coordinator.
“Specifically, while McMahon was CEO of WWE and Ms. Grant was employed as an entry-level coordinator in the legal department, McMahon recruited individuals to have sexual relations with Ms. Grant and/or with the two of them, directed Ms. Grant to visit Defendant Laurinaitis prior to the start of workdays for sexual encounters, and expected and directed Ms. Grant to engage in sexual activity at the WWE headquarters, even during working hours,” according to the complaint.
Grant also alleged that the former WWE CEO ordered her to have sexual relations with a WWE “superstar” and “other men.”
She demands to void a nondisclosure agreement which she claims to have signed in 2022 when McMahon agreed to pay her $3 million to maintain her silence.
Grant said McMahon failed to “make any further payments,” after paying her $1 million.
After his resignation in TKO, McMahon and WWE have yet to comment on the allegations.
However, McMahon told in an article on Deadline, “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.”
“However, out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, and all of the employees and Superstars who helped make WWE into the global leader it is today, I have decided to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effective immediately.”
