TKO Executive Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon is seen throughout a ceremony saying Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has joined the Board of Directors for TKO at New York Stock Exchange on January 23, 2024 in New York City.
Michelle Farsi | UFC | Getty Images
WWE boss Vince McMahon was accused in a graphic lawsuit Thursday of sexual assault, trafficking, and bodily and emotional abuse of a girl who beforehand labored on the professional wrestling big.
The swimsuit by Janel Grant — which alleges McMahon directed her to have intercourse with a WWE “superstar” and different males — seeks to void a nondisclosure settlement Grant mentioned she reached with McMahon in early 2022.
Grant’s swimsuit in U.S. District Court in Connecticut says the billionaire McMahon agreed to pay her $three million as a part of that deal, however ended up solely paying her $1 million in trade for her silence about his conduct.
In addition to McMahon, 78, the grievance names as defendants WWE and John Laurinaitis, the corporate’s former head of expertise relations and common supervisor.
The grievance comes six months after federal legislation enforcement brokers executed a search warrant on McMahon and served him with a grand jury subpoena as a part of an investigation into McMahon’s cost of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to a number of girls, amongst them Grant, after allegations of sexual misconduct.
McMahon, who resigned from WWE management posts in mid-2022 amid an inside firm investigation, solely to return as its chief in early 2023, final March paid WWE $17.four million to cowl prices of a probe of these payouts by a legislation agency retained by the corporate.
McMahon is government chairman of the board of TKO Group Holdings, which was fashioned final 12 months by a merger of his wrestling firm and the mix-martial arts firm UFC. He owns a big variety of shares in TKO Group.
Grant’s lawyer, Ann Callis, in an announcement, mentioned, “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.”
“She is an incredibly private and courageous person who has suffered deeply at the hands of Mr. McMahon and Mr. Laurinaitis,” Callis mentioned. “Ms. Grant hopes that her lawsuit will prevent other women from being victimized. The organization is well aware of Mr. McMahon’s history of depraved behavior, and it’s time that they take responsibility for the misconduct of its leadership.”
A spokesman for McMahon mentioned, ”This lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up situations that by no means occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the reality.”
“He will vigorously defend himself,” the spokesman said.
A TKO Group spokesperson said, “Mr. McMahon doesn’t management TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE.”
“While this matter pre-dates our TKO government crew’s tenure on the firm, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very severely and are addressing this matter internally,” the TKO spokesperson mentioned.
TKO Group on Tuesday introduced that Netflix would pay $5 billion over 10 years to stream the WWE’s flagship program “Raw,” and carry all other WWE shows and specials outside the United States.
A WWE spokesman and Laurinaitis did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Grant’s suit.
The 67-page complaint says McMahon befriended Grant, who was his neighbor in an apartment building, in 2019 after learning from the building’s resident manager that her parents had died and that she was looking for a job.
Grant alleges that McMahon soon pressured her into a sexual relationship, which she succumbed to while working at WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
“When McMahon pushed Ms. Grant for a bodily relationship in return for long-promised employment at WWE, she felt trapped in an unimaginable scenario: submitting to McMahon’s sexual calls for or dealing with wreck,” the suit says.
The suit also alleges: “Given McMahon’s all-powerful place at WWE, coercion was inherent in his more and more wicked sexual calls for.”
“Specifically, whereas McMahon was CEO of WWE and Ms. Grant was employed as an entry stage coordinator within the authorized division, McMahon recruited people to have sexual relations with Ms. Grant and/or with the 2 of them, directed Ms. Grant to go to Defendant Laurinaitis previous to the beginning of workdays for sexual encounters, and anticipated and directed Ms. Grant to have interaction in sexual exercise on the WWE headquarters, even throughout working hours,” the suit says.
The complaint accuses McMahon of subjecting her to “excessive cruelty and degradation” that caused Grant to become “numb to actuality to outlive the horrific encounters.”
And the suit says he shared explicit photos of Grant with other WWE employees.
In January 2022, the suit says, McMahon told Grant he could no longer speak to her or be seen in the same room as her because his wife, Linda McMahon, had learned about their relationship.
“Purportedly to keep away from divorce, adverse publicity, and different repercussions, McMahon mentioned that Ms. Grant’s time at WWE was at an finish, however that he wished her to signal an NDA to make sure her silence on, amongst different issues, his private misconduct,” the suit said.
Linda McMahon, a former top WWE executive, served as administrator of the Small Business Administration under former President Donald Trump, who himself as performed at WWE events.
The suit said that in November 2022, WWE touted the end of a “Special Committee” investigation in Vince McMahon’s alleged misconduct with women.
“Yet the Special Committee by no means even bothered to interview Ms. Grant or request any paperwork regardless of Ms. Grant stating that she would cooperate,” the suit said.
In addition to seeking to void the NDA, Grant’s suit also alleges violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, negligence, intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress and civil battery.
The suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, says that the “predatory conduct” of the defendants “has left Ms. Grant crippled, each bodily and mentally, together with from debilitating signs of post-traumatic stress dysfunction and suicidal ideation.
