Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Update – McMahon Files Opposition to Janel Grant’s Request for Additional Time for Amended Lawsuit Filing

As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit in January of 2024 against former TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. Besides McMahon, WWE and former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis were also named defendants in the lawsuit. WWE, McMahon, and Laurinaitis all filed motions this past December requesting for the lawsuit to be moved to arbitration while Grant filed a motion this past January about their intent to file an amended lawsuit. Grant recently filed a motion requesting for additional time for her amended lawsuit.

Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that McMahon’s attorneys filed a new motion on Monday as well before the United States District of Connecticut based on recent court documents.

Pollock reported that McMahon’s motion requested for the court to move the pending motion to compel arbitration in the case or “alternatively, to order Plaintiff to respond to the Motion no later than January 20, 2025.”

In the filing, McMahon reportedly is arguing that the plaintiffs could have filed an amended lawsuit any time over the past three weeks. The filing also noted that Monday was the deadline and representing 21 days since McMahon’s motion to compel arbitration was filed on December 21st with WWE and Laurinatis following suit.

In regards to the SEC’s recent ruling against McMahon and settlement deal between the two sides, the filing also argues that the SEC’s ruling does not constitute “compelling circumstances” to extend the period required by Grant’s legal team to refile their lawsuit and there is no need for a status conference.

As Plaintiff’s own filing acknowledges, the SEC Consent Order announced a settlement related to accounting disclosures—issues unrelated to this matter. Further, Defendant McMahon did not admit or deny any of the findings and thus, the Consent Order does not contain any admissions that could be used in this case. The Consent Order has absolutely no impact on the validity of the parties’ arbitration agreement or the arbitrability of their claims. Plaintiff makes no argument that it does. Nor does it impact the deadline for Plaintiff to file an opposition to a motion that has been pending for three weeks.

The filing also stated that McMahon’s final request was if the court does grant the request for an extension, that it should be no later than Monday, January 20th.

In an official statement to Post Wrestling, McMahon’s lawyer Jessica T. Rosenberg stated:

“The recent federal investigation resulted in no criminal indictments from the SDNY, while the SEC settlement relates to minor accounting issues at WWE that have nothing to do with this case.  Any claims to the contrary made by Janel Grant’s team are just another desperate PR stunt.”

Following McMahon’s new filing, Grant’s representative Kendra Barkoff Lamy issued an official statement on Twitter claiming that McMahon’s request is just his attempt at trying to prevent Grant from having her day in court and expose the “horrific evidence of his repeated sexual abuse and trafficking” to the public.

“@VinceMcMahon

is trying to prevent Janel Grant from having her day in court because he doesn’t want the public to see the horrifying evidence of his repeated sexual abuse and trafficking.”