Federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against WWE co-founder Vince McMahon, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Prosecutors in New York in recent months have been in contact with women who have accused McMahon of sexual misconduct, the people said.
The billionaire resigned last week from the wrestling empire he long ran after former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing her and trafficking her to other men inside WWE.
McMahon has denied Grant’s allegations and said the federal probe won’t find wrongdoing. He referred to a statement from last week: “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.”
WWE didn’t respond to requests about the probe or about the individual women’s allegations.
Over the summer, federal agents executed a search warrant for McMahon’s phone and delivered a subpoena to him for documents related to any allegation of “rape, sex trafficking, sexual assault, commercial sex transaction, harassment or discrimination” against current or former WWE employees.
The grand jury subpoena, described to The Wall Street Journal, offers the first window into the investigation, which began in 2022. The Journal reported in 2022 that McMahon had made payouts to several women who accused him of sexual misconduct while he was CEO and that prosecutors were investigating the payouts. The subpoena also sought communications between McMahon and these women, including Grant.
The businessman and TV personality resigned as executive chairman of WWE parent TKO Group (TKO 2.23% ⬆️)
on Jan. 26, the day after Grant’s lawsuit was filed. Her complaint contained graphic depictions of sex acts and copies of explicit text messages.
Grant and at least four of the women named in the grand jury subpoena had entered into settlement agreements with McMahon over allegations of sexual misconduct. Prosecutors have interviewed some of the women, the people said.
Grant’s lawsuit said McMahon agreed in 2022 to pay her $3 million to keep silent about their relationship, which she said began after they met in 2019 at his luxury apartment building, where Grant also lived. Grant, who worked in the talent-relations and legal departments at WWE from 2019 to 2022, said in her lawsuit that McMahon stopped paying her after an initial $1 million wire transfer.
The other women named in the grand jury subpoena include a WWE contractor whom McMahon allegedly sent unsolicited nude photos and sexually harassed; a former WWE wrestler who said McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex; former WWE referee Rita Chatterton, who publicly accused McMahon of raping her; a spa manager who said McMahon assaulted her at a Southern California resort; and a former WWE employee who alleged the head of talent relations at the company at the time, John Laurinaitis, demoted her after she broke off an affair with him.
McMahon has long denied the rape allegations by Chatterton, first made publicly in televised interviews in the 1990s. He agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement in late 2022 without admitting wrongdoing. His lawyer said he agreed to the settlement to avoid the cost of litigation.
McMahon hasn’t addressed the allegations by the other women.
Laurinaitis also appeared in Grant’s lawsuit, which said McMahon directed her to visit Laurinaitis at his hotel rooms, where she had sex with Laurinaitis before the start of workdays. The suit also alleged that the two men took turns restraining and assaulting her inside WWE’s offices on one occasion in 2021.
Laurinaitis, a former wrestler known as Johnny Ace and a longtime WWE executive, left the company in 2022. Laurinaitis hasn’t publicly commented on his departure.
A lawyer for Laurinaitis, Edward Brennan, said, “We deny any and all allegations and will vigorously defend the charges against Mr. Laurinaitis in the appropriate setting.”
Brennan said Grant’s lawsuit doesn’t highlight any examples of Laurinaitis making sexual demands or exchanging items of value. “Count how many times in the complaint Vince exerts control over both the Plaintiff and Johnny,” he wrote in an email, referring to his client. “It’s a good complaint. It just doesn’t list all the victims, including Johnny.”
McMahon briefly left the WWE in 2022 during a board investigation and returned in early 2023. Soon after, he negotiated a sale of WWE to Endeavor Group (EDR 0.57% ⬆️), owner of the UFC mixed martial arts league. The deal created a new public company called TKO Group and until last week he served as its executive chairman.
TKO Group had warned investors about the risks associated with WWE’s longtime leader, who remains a major shareholder. In securities filings last year, TKO Group said McMahon’s presence on its board could result in negative publicity and “any further allegations and investigations may have an adverse financial and operational impact on our business performance.”
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