Vince McMahon
On Thursday, a former employee of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) lodged a lawsuit against the company, its founder Vince McMahon, and a former WWE executive, alleging sex trafficking and abuse.
Janel Grant, who formerly worked for WWE, asserted in the legal filing that she experienced “physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, and trafficking at WWE.” The lawsuit was submitted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
In a statement to NBC News, Ann Callis, the attorney representing Grant, stated, “Today’s complaint seeks to hold accountable two WWE executives who sexually assaulted and trafficked Plaintiff Janel Grant, as well as the organization that facilitated or turned a blind eye to the abuse and then swept it under the rug.” Callis described Grant as a private and brave individual who has endured significant suffering allegedly caused by McMahon and Laurinaitis.
Grant’s objective in filing the lawsuit is reportedly to prevent further victimization of women. As of now, World Wrestling Entertainment, its parent company TKO Group Holdings, Vince McMahon, and John Laurinaitis have not responded to requests for comment.
The lawsuit encompasses allegations of sex trafficking, civil battery, intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligence.
According to the legal complaint, Grant encountered McMahon in March 2019 when he held the position of the company’s CEO. Allegedly, McMahon enticed her with promises that could shape her career and life, all the while engaging in progressively inappropriate conduct.
The lawsuit claims that McMahon pressured Grant into a physical relationship, linking it to the assurance of employment at WWE. It asserts that Grant found herself in a daunting predicament where she had to either yield to his sexual demands or face severe repercussions.
The legal filing states, “Ms. Grant feared she had everything to lose and faced negative consequences no matter what happened.” Eventually, Grant acquiesced to a physical relationship with McMahon and secured employment at WWE.
Despite Grant expressing dissatisfaction and attempting to terminate the intimate involvement, the lawsuit contends that McMahon expected the physical relationship to persist as a condition of her employment. The legal document emphasizes that Grant had no prior understanding of the extent of its sordid nature or how the ensuing psychological torment and physical violence would leave her feeling helpless, isolated, and trapped.
The legal complaint asserts that in 2020, McMahon initiated the dissemination of explicit photos and videos featuring Grant to unidentified individuals both within and outside the wrestling company.
Given McMahon’s role as the CEO of WWE at the time and Grant’s position being at an entry level within the company, the lawsuit contends that “coercion was inherent in his increasingly depraved sexual demands.”
It is claimed that McMahon enlisted others, including Laurinaitis, to engage in sexual activities with Grant, with such encounters expected to take place at WWE headquarters, occasionally during official working hours.
The lawsuit further alleges that McMahon and Laurinaitis sexually assaulted Grant within Laurinaitis’ office, despite her pleas for them to stop, all while other colleagues continued working at their desks.
Grant’s lawsuit contends that other individuals within WWE were aware of the misconduct but actively participated in covering it up. According to the legal filing, Grant asserts that her termination from the company occurred after Vince McMahon claimed his wife discovered their relationship in January 2022. McMahon allegedly pressured her to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) to prevent her from discussing the sexual misconduct.
In exchange for payments whose details are unspecified in the lawsuit, Grant eventually signed the NDA. However, the lawsuit alleges that McMahon ceased making the agreed payments at a later point. The legal action aims to invalidate the NDA and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
The lawsuit claims that even after her departure from the company, McMahon allegedly attempted to facilitate her involvement with an unnamed WWE star in March 2022. The alleged abuse and predatory behavior described in the lawsuit have purportedly left Ms. Grant physically and mentally debilitated, suffering from severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The legal document accuses WWE of attempting to conceal the matter following media reports of McMahon’s involvement in a hush money payment scandal. It asserts that WWE announced the formation of a special committee or board of directors to investigate the alleged misconduct in an effort to downplay the situation and minimize its impact.
Grant claimed in the lawsuit that despite expressing her willingness to cooperate, the special committee failed to interview her or request any documents. The legal document further asserted that McMahon and Laurinaitis had groomed and coerced Ms. Grant, with WWE actively supporting and facilitating her continued employment to enable McMahon’s alleged ongoing sexual exploitation.
Earlier this month, World Wrestling Entertainment announced the reinstatement of McMahon, who also holds a majority share in the company, to its board. McMahon had initially stepped down as CEO in 2022 following an investigation that revealed he had paid nearly $15 million to four women over 16 years to silence allegations of sexual misconduct.
NBC News report ….
Despite his temporary departure, McMahon retained control as a majority shareholder, as highlighted in a November regulatory filing by WWE, stating,
cbsnews report says ……
WWE organizer Vince McMahon is blamed by a previous worker for sex dealing. The previous worker, Janel Award, asserts that McMahon compelled her into engaging in sexual relations with him and one more WWE representative in return for her work. Notwithstanding her own attack, Award is blaming McMahon for sex dealing at WWE.
The claim, recorded Thursday in a Connecticut government court, charges that Award was recruited by McMahon in 2019, after her folks had died and she was jobless.
Award charges that McMahon pushed her for a sexual relationship in return for the gig, and soon “welcomed her in his clothing, contacted her, over and over requested embraces, and went through hours sharing close insights concerning his own life.” Once utilized, McMahon supposedly shared express photographs of Award with other WWE representatives and grapplers, and “enlisted people to have sexual relations with Ms. Award” including WWE workers.
She additionally affirms that McMahon and one more WWE chief physically attacked her “while associates were occupied at their work areas.”
The claim brings up issues about McMahon’s way of behaving as well as the board at WWE, which is presently important for technical knockout Gathering Possessions. In 2022, McMahon ventured back as Chief of WWE while the organization examined him for supposed wrongdoing, with the test focused on claims that he paid quiet cash to a laborer with whom he purportedly engaged in extramarital relations. A 2022 report in the Money Road Diary said that McMahon had consented to pay more than $12 million to four ladies.
WWE’s examination was “a joke,” Award’s legal counselors charge in the suit. “[T]he extraordinary advisory group never at any point tried to meet with Ms. Award or solicitation any records regardless of Ms. Award expressing that she would coordinate.”
McMahon later supposedly constrained Award to consent to a non-exposure arrangement after he told her that his better half had learned about their relationship, as per the grumbling.
“At last, Ms. Award surrendered to the tension and marked the NDA in return for installments – which McMahon later quit making,” the claim claims.
The claim is requesting that a court proclaim her NDA invalid under government regulation, including the Dealing Casualties Insurance Act. WWE didn’t promptly return a solicitation for input.
The 67-page claim is loaded up with charges that incorporate a few upsetting subtleties. The following are a portion of the claim’s cases.
In anguish and helpless
In her case, Award portrays herself as down-on-her-karma and experiencing anguish when she experienced McMahon. As indicated by the claim, her folks had as of late died and she was attempting to find work when a companion prescribed she connect with McMahon to request counsel.
In their most memorable gathering, McMahon purportedly shared cozy insights regarding his life, including “current relational peculiarities, including his partition from Linda McMahon, his horrible youth, experiencing childhood in destitution,” and told her “that he would simply not liked to give her a task, however ‘give [her] a day to day existence,’ and that he would track down a spot for her at WWE.”
Be that as it may, the claim claims, McMahon before long exceeded limits, starting to prep Award for sexual abuse, for example, by showing up in his clothing, asking her for kisses and making lewd gestures.
Forceful sexual way of behaving
McMahon supposedly requested that Award send him express photographs, and took part in sexual way of behaving that the claim claims was forceful, causing “actual wounds, including draining and torment, from strong utilization of sex toys.”
McMahon likewise purportedly named his sex toys after male WWE grapplers: “[F]or model, a dark ‘dildo’ would be named after an African American grappler and a white ‘dildo’ would be named after a Caucasian grappler.”
The claim likewise remembers indicated texts from McMahon to Allow for which he portrays his sexual dreams, as well as sharing that he had shown male WWE representatives her unequivocal photographs as well as tales about their sexual ways of behaving.
“I just passed my telephone around to a lot of folks on the tech group. They were shouting!! … “Take a gander at that a**,” he composed.
Charges of sex dealing
The claim guarantees the relationship moved into sex dealing with 2020, when McMahon purportedly compelled Award into trios with different men, including McMahon’s actual specialist and another WWE chief, John Laurinaitis, who is likewise named as a litigant in the claim.
“On various events, Ms. Award was coordinated to visit Laurinaitis at his lodging before work to serve herself to him as his ‘breakfast,'” the claim affirms. “These overwhelming encounters made Ms. Award feel like she were being pimped out as an article for sexual satisfaction for her new chief.”
Guarantee of rape in the WWE office
The claim additionally asserts that McMahon and Laurinaitis physically attacked her during the normal working day at the WWE office.
In June 2021, when she showed up working, the pair brought her into Laurinaitis’ office and supposedly attacked her, in spite of Award saying “no” and “kindly stop.” The claim guarantees that McMahon answered, “No means yes.”
“On numerous different events while Ms. Award worked under Laurinaitis, remembering after McMahon’s commitment that one-for one experiences would end – and, surprisingly, after his significant other got the nation over to join Laurinaitis – he would call Ms. Award to his office, lock the entryway, unfasten his jeans, and teach Ms. Award to perform oral sex,” the claim claims.
Award was supposedly utilized as a “sexual pawn” to sign a grappler
The claim likewise guarantees McMahon involved Award as a “sexual pawn” to captivate an anonymous WWE grappler, called WWE Whiz in the claim, to sign another agreement.
“In December 2021, McMahon gave Ms. Award’s own mobile phone number to WWE Genius and guaranteed ‘she’ll do anything’ mentioned of her,” the claim asserts. Award and tried McMahon’s commitment that Ms. Award would ‘do anything’ with a solicitation that she send a video of herself peeing.”