News broke Thursday that Janel Grant’s lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon, and John Laurinaitis is being put on hold at the request of federal attorneys with the Southern District of New York.
The stay on the case is for six months, Wrestlenomics has been told by a source familiar with the case. This detail was reported earlier by Bloomberg.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February that federal authorities allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking against Vince McMahon. The investigation reportedly began in 2022,
That was the year the Journal reported McMahon paid millions to four women who used to work for WWE, including Grant, for nondisclosure agreements to silence their claims of sexual misconduct. WWE’s subsequent investigation determined the payments weren’t and should’ve been recorded as company expenses.
McMahon later reportedly made a multimillion-dollar NDA with Rita Chatterton, who alleges McMahon raped her in 1986 when she was working for McMahon as a referee.
WWE disclosed in an SEC filing last summer that federal agents on July 17, 2023, executed a search warrant and served a federal grand jury subpoena on McMahon.
Grant’s lawsuit, filed in Connecticut federal court, alleges that while she was an employee with WWE, she was trafficked by McMahon. Her complaint contains detailed descriptions of sexual assault allegedly perpetrated by McMahon and Laurinaitis. She says WWE executives knew about her relationship with McMahon.
No criminal charges have been filed at this point against McMahon, Laurinaitis, or WWE.
The stay on the civil case at the request of the Justice Department, though, raises questions about whether charges are coming.
CJ Donald is a corporate attorney and instructor of Sports Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law.
“If this is indeed a Justice Department investigation into alleged sex trafficking, then this stay makes complete sense,” Donald told Wrestlenomics.
Grant argues that the NDA she signed with McMahon should be ruled invalid under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
“A private civil action alleging violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act can be stayed during a related criminal action ‘arising out of the same occurrence in which the claimant is the victim.’” Donald says, citing the language of the Act.
“While we cannot yet know for sure, the Justice Department’s motion to intervene all but confirms that there is a criminal case concerning Grant’s allegations,” he added.
A report from NBC News in April, though, said McMahon believes he won’t be charged, according to someone close to him. In August last year, he wrote to all WWE staff: “I am confident that the government’s investigation will be resolved without any findings of wrongdoing.”
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.