WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has resigned following sexual assault and trafficking allegations made by a former employee.
Janel Grant filed a lawsuit in Connecticut federal court Thursday, claiming McMahon coerced her into having sex with him and other men.
It describes alleged interactions with several company executives, including one on June 23, 2021, where McMahon locked her in his private locker room, forced her over a massage table and had his way with her. McMahon's personal assistant delivered $15,000 in Bloomingdale's gift cards to Grant's office later that day.
Grant claims McMahon's abuse and trafficking came amidst promises of career advancements.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Grant signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2022 in which McMahon agreed to pay $3 million for her to not discuss their relationship or to disparage him. The WWE received an anonymous tip in 2022 about the relationship and started a board investigation, which uncovered other payments by the CEO to women. Grant's lawsuit said McMahon stopped making payments under the 2022 deal after the initial $1 million installment. The suit seeks to void the agreement and unspecified financial damages.
“This lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the truth,” a spokesman for McMahon said. “He will vigorously defend himself.”
TKO Group TKO -1.11% decrease; red down pointing triangle, an entertainment giant that was recently formed by the merger of WWE and the UFC mixed martial-arts league, said in a statement: “While this matter pre-dates our TKO executive team's tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant's horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.”
Jerry McDevitt, McMahon's attorney at the time, said in 2022 that the woman, whose name wasn't yet public, hadn't made any allegations of harassment. In a statement when The Wall Street Journal first reported on McMahon's $3 million settlement, WWE said that the relationship was consensual and that it was taking seriously the allegations McMahon had engaged in misconduct.
At the time, The Journal reported that company's board of directors retained the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to conduct an independent investigation.
The investigation found that McMahon improperly recorded payments of $14.6 million to multiple women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
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