Vince McMahon under federal investigation amid sexual assault lawsuit

WWE founder Vince McMahon is under federal criminal investigation amid a sexual assault and human trafficking lawsuit filed by a former employee of the wrestling company.

The Wall Street Journal References that the former chairman of the TKO Group has been the subject of a federal investigation since 2022 following a wave of allegations against McMahon. As part of a federal warrant issued, McMahon had his cellphone seized by authorities.

In 2022, McMahon announced he was leaving WWE after an internal investigation found allegations of hush money payments to a former employee, with McMahon reportedly paying $3 million to the then-unnamed woman, a WWE lawyer, to keep them a “consensual” private affair. After the investigation, he returned to WWE in July 2023.

But in January, that woman — Janel Grant, who was hired in the specially designed role of “manager-coordinator” in WWE's legal department — filed a lawsuit against McMahon, WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis, and of the wrestling company that describes years. for alleged sexual assaults.

Among the allegations in the lawsuit are McMahon's demands that Grant make himself sexually available to both himself and Laurinaitis (who is also named in the lawsuit), as well as unnamed “WWE Corporate Officers” and a “WWE Superstar.” Grant also accused McMahon of humiliating her, and in one incident, said he and Laurinaitis locked her in an office and raped her.

According to Wall Street Journal, Grant is one of five women cooperating with the federal investigation. the other women include a former WWE wrestler who claimed McMahon forced her into oral sex, a former WWE referee who publicly accused McMahon that he raped her in 1986 and a spa manager who said McMahon assaulted her at a spa in California.

While McMahon denied the allegations in Grant's lawsuit, he stepped down as president of the TKO Group soon after.