UPDATED: A former employee of WWE who sued the company, ex-CEO Vince McMahon and former senior exec John Laurinaitis — alleging she was subjected to sexual abuse and trafficking at the hands of the two men — reached a settlement with Laurinaitis and dismissed her claims against him.
The notice of Grant’s dismissal of claims against Laurinaitis, filed Wednesday, is available at this link.
In a joint statement Wednesday, representatives for Grant and Laurinaitis, former head of talent relations for WWE, said: “John Laurinaitis has agreed to cooperate and provide evidence in Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. His agreement to a confidential settlement is a pivotal next step toward holding McMahon and WWE accountable and bringing justice to Ms. Grant after years of sexual abuse and trafficking. Mr. Laurinaitis looks forward to moving on with his life. We cannot provide any additional details at this time.”
Jessica Rosenberg, attorney for Vince McMahon, said in a statement, “Today’s dismissal of John Laurinaitis as a defendant doesn’t alter the facts of this case in any way. Vince McMahon never mistreated Janel Grant. No matter how many press releases her team issues, the truth remains unchanged. As Mr. Laurinaitis’s lawyer previously said: ‘Mr. Laurinaitis corroborates Mr. McMahon in publicly declaring that Ms. Grant’s allegations of sexual abuse and coercion in her Complaint are completely unfounded.’”
Representatives for WWE and TKO Group (parent of WWE) did not respond to requests for comment.
In January 2024, Grant’s attorney’s filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut naming McMahon, WWE and Laurinaitis as defendants.
According to Grant’s lawsuit, McMahon and Laurinaitis — on WWE property and using company funds — both engaged in sexual assault and trafficking of Grant “both for their own pleasure and as a pawn to secure talent deals with prospective wrestlers they were recruiting.” McMahon “repeatedly used sex toys named after other WWE employees, wrestlers and performers to sexually groom Ms. Grant for trafficking to those same people,” according the lawsuit.
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In a statement in January 2024, McMahon said in part that “Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth. I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.”
In April 2022, the WWE board announced an investigation into allegations of misconduct by McMahon and Laurinaitis. In August 2022, Laurinaitis’ employment with WWE was terminated. McMahon stepped down as CEO amid the WWE probe. In January 2023 he returned to WWE as executive chairman to lead efforts to sell the company, which later that year merged with UFC to form TKO Group.
TKO Group is majority-owned by the now privately held Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. (parent of WME Group). McMahon in January 2024 resigned from the board of TKO Group in the wake of Grant’s lawsuit.
From Variety US