A civil lawsuit accusing former WWE CEO Vince McMahon of abuse, sexual assault and sex trafficking will proceed, attorneys for the plaintiff shared on Thursday.
Former WWE employee Janel Grant alleges that McMahon coerced her into sex with the promise of employment, shared private and explicit pictures of her with others and sexually assaulted her. Grant filed the lawsuit in January but the Department of Justice asked Grant to stay her suit for 6 months as it pursued a criminal case against McMahon. That stay expired earlier this month.
An attorney for Grant celebrated the lawsuit moving forward in a statement to The 19th.
“We are pleased that prosecutors for the Southern District of New York have concluded that they can continue their criminal investigation while we bring forward new evidence in our civil case about the sexual exploitation carried out by Janel Grant’s abusers,” Ann Callis said. “For the last six months, Ms. Grant has patiently waited to hold Vince McMahon, [WWE executive] John Laurinaitis, and WWE accountable for the sex trafficking and abuse she endured at the company on a near daily basis. Her wait is over, and we now look forward to sharing Ms. Grant’s story.”
McMahon faces a string of other sexual misconduct allegations. He left his role as CEO of WWE in 2022 when the first stirrings of those accusations began to circulate. He stepped away completely from WWE's parent company earlier this year after Grant's suit was filed. He has denied the allegations against him.
Grant’s suit is separate from a lawsuit alleging McMahon and his wife Linda McMahon, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, covered up rampant sexual abuse of minors within the WWE in the 1980s.
That suit was paused earlier this month as Maryland’s Supreme Court deliberates on a law eliminating the statute of limitations in cases of minor sexual abuse, CBS News reports.
