In January, former WWE employee Janel Grant came forward with an explosive lawsuit against ex-WWE owner Vince McMahon and former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis that accused them of sexually assaulting and trafficking her. Shortly thereafter, McMahon resigned from WWE’s parent company TKO. And while the two sides have yet to meet in a court of law, the Department of Justice is now opening its own investigation into Grant’s claims.
Via Deadline, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District Of New York revealed to the federal court that McMahon, Laurinaitis, and WWE are the subjects of an official DOJ investigation. As a result, Grant’s lawsuit will now be on the backburner while the government pursues its own case.
“Ms. Grant has consented to a request by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to stay her case against Mr. McMahon, WWE and Mr. Laurinaitis, pursuant to a pending non-public investigation,” Grant’s lawyer Ann Callis told Deadline. “We will cooperate with all appropriate next steps.”
Jessica Rosenberg, one of the partners representing McMahon, said “We remain confident the evidence will prove Ms. Grant’s allegations are false and her complaint is nothing more than a fabricated, vindictive narrative from a disgruntled former girlfriend.”
Last month, McMahan and Laurinaitis attempted to bring Grant’s case into arbitration under the terms of the NDA that she claims is now invalid since McMahan never paid her the full amount that was promised. There’s currently no timetable for when the DOJ will finish its investigation, or when Grant’s case will resume.
McMahan previously left WWE in 2022 after he was accused of using hush-money agreements to pay off former WWE employees whom he had affairs with. However, McMahon used his controlling interest in WWE’s voting shares to force himself back into the company in January 2023. WWE and Endeavor subsequently struck a deal that merged McMahon’s federation with the UFC to form a new company, TKO Group. McMahon was retained by TKO as executive chairman until he resigned following Grant’s lawsuit.
Image credit: Getty Images/Ethan Miller/Staff
