Then WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon speaks to an audience during a WWE fan appreciation event, Oct. 30, 2010, in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File).
A former employee who earlier this year filed a sexual battery and human trafficking lawsuit naming the WWE, its former chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, and former talent executive John Laurinaitis, seeking to “void” a nondisclosure agreement she signed in 2022, is now demanding that the WWE “prove” it is committed to change by releasing current and former employees from NDAs — a move that would open the door for other women to speak out while the Connecticut federal case is in a holding pattern amid a federal probe.
Plaintiff Janel Grant’s attorney Ann Callis in a Monday letter to WWE attorney Daniel Toal, McMahon attorney Jessica Rosenberg, and Laurinaitis attorney Edward Brennan challenged WWE and its parent company Endeavor to “prove it” — namely, that they do take Grant’s claims “very seriously” and, accordingly, respond by “publicly waiv[ing] enforcement” of existing NDAs for current and former employees.
“This includes releasing women who signed NDAs related to sexual misconduct by former CEO Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and other WWE leadership and employees as conditions of settlement,” the letter said, referring to 2022 Wall Street Journal reporting on McMahon agreeing to make “hush money” payments to four women. “The toxic and sexualized culture at WWE during Mr. McMahon’s tenure as CEO and Chairman was open and notorious. Yet what has been publicly reported is only part of the picture. We have had witnesses come to us confidentially and describe a sexualized culture at WWE that victimizes women and men. We have received reports that many victims are currently afraid to come forward because of punitive non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements.”
“WWE cannot move on from its sordid past while its victims remain silenced,” the letter continued, slamming the NDAs as “unenforceable” and “coerced.” “WWE must clarify that any NDAs that it has entered are not intended to prevent disclosure of sexual misconduct, abuse, or assault, and disclaim and waive any claims it may have under those NDAs if current or former employees and contractors choose to speak out.”
The plaintiff’s legal team maintained that the ending of the NDAs has precedent amid the fallout in the cases of Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer.
Law&Crime requested comment from the defendants’ attorneys about Grant’s letter, but they did not immediately respond.
What Janel Grant has alleged
In January, Grant filed a 67-page lawsuit, claiming that McMahon took advantage of her personal “hardship” in life and “dangled career-making and life-changing promises” for her in the workplace in 2019, offering her a job at WWE.
“McMahon befriended Ms. Grant, giving her hopes of a new life with promises of a yet-to-be-determined role at WWE, and showering her with attention and assurances, along with gifts like a VIP experience at WrestleMania,” the suit said. “But what seemed like a dream in the Spring of 2019 quickly became a nightmare.”
According to the plaintiff, McMahon abused his power to condition career success on Grant engaging in a “physical relationship” with him, leaving her to feel “trapped in an impossible situation: submitting to McMahon’s sexual demands or facing ruin.”
“Ms. Grant feared she had everything to lose and faced negative consequences no matter what happened,” court documents said, claiming that an entry-level job was created for her in the legal department of WWE.
The complaint, filled with graphic texts of a sexual nature that McMahon allegedly sent Grant, alleged that McMahon “defecated” on her “during a threesome” in 2020 and, one year later with co-defendant Laurinaitis, “sexually assaulted” her “inside Laurinaitis’ office in WWE headquarters while colleagues were busy at their desks.”
Grant alleged that “others at WWE knew what was going on” but that WWE “actively sought to conceal the wrongdoing” through an NDA.
What the lawsuit said about the NDA
The lawsuit, which included a copy of the NDA as an exhibit, asked the federal court to issue a declaratory judgment that the NDA was “invalid” under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, making the agreement “void and unenforceable.”
According to Grant, the NDA came about in 2022 as part of Vince McMahon’s effort to “avoid divorce, negative publicity, and other repercussions” after his wife Linda “found out about their relationship.”
Grant alleged she was afraid Vince McMahon might go after her through litigation if she refused to sign the NDA, so she “succumbed to the pressure and signed the NDA in exchange for payments – which McMahon later stopped making” — only to be subjected to more abuse.
“Even after pushing Ms. Grant out of the Company and muzzling her with an NDA, McMahon continued efforts to exploit her, including attempting to traffic her to a WWE star who would be in New York City for a live event and TV taping in March 2022,” the suit claimed.
What’s next?
Just recently, Sean “Diddy” Combs was indicted for racketeering and sex trafficking in the Southern District of New York but only after numerous civil lawsuits first accused him of widespread wrongdoing. Of note, a lawyer with the very same U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuting the Diddy case is listed as an the attorney of record for the U.S. as an “interested party” in the WWE lawsuit. The DOJ attorney, Sarah Mortazavi, was once recognized while in private practice for her representation of a trafficking survivor.
Nearly two weeks after the DOJ entered an appearance in the case, the court docket shows, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer on June 11 wrote that Grant and the defendants “mutually” agreed to stay the case for “a period of approximately six months” — until Dec. 11.
While McMahon has not been charged with a crime and, along with his civil litigation co-defendants, has vehemently denied the allegations, Grant’s attorney has openly expressed that the civil case was paused because the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is conducting an investigation and sought a stay. As recently as three weeks ago, Callis said she was “hopeful” an indictment would drop soon.
In a 2023 filing with the SEC, as CNBC reported, the WWE itself revealed that Vince McMahon was hit with a “search warrant” and a “federal grand jury subpoena.”
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