Vince McMahon (previously) is accused of sex trafficking by a WWE staffer he previously paid to stay quiet, reports the Wall Street Journal. He allegedly pressured the plaintiff into sex with him and others, sexually assaulted her, and has now failed to make the settlement payments, freeing her to go public and sue. Understating the implications, the Journal writes that this "raises questions about the breadth of an internal company probe conducted by a law firm last year."
In a statement when The Wall Street Journal first reported on McMahon's $3 million settlement, WWE said that the relationship was consensual and that it was taking seriously the allegations McMahon had engaged in misconduct.
McMahon briefly retired from WWE in July 2022 following reporting by the Journal that revealed payouts to multiple women who had alleged sexual misconduct. … [an] investigation found $14.6 million in payments by the CEO to women who had accused him of sexual misconduct, out of roughly $20 million that should have been booked as business expenses. In November 2022, WWE said the board investigation was completed and the company restated past securities filings. McMahon repaid the company for the cost of the investigation and returned soon after.
They had every chance to get rid of it. It had cost them millions of dollars, they paid a fortune to find every skeleton it put in their closet, and then they took it back. You can't "burn it down" at this point any more than you can burn down industrial waste or styrofoam. Vince McMahon exists and the damage is done.
The lawsuit, filed in a Connecticut federal court, describes in graphic detail Grant's account of interactions with the businessman and TV personality. She alleged that McMahon and another WWE executive locked her in an office in WWE's headquarters in Stamford, Conn., on June 15, 2021, and took turns sexually assaulting her while other staff were working. In the middle of another workday, on June 23, 2021, McMahon locked Grant inside his private locker room at WWE's offices and forced himself on her over a massage table, the suit said. Later that day, McMahon's personal assistant delivered $15,000 in Bloomingdale's gift cards to Grant in her office.The suit also includes screenshots of explicit text messages that McMahon allegedly sent to Grant. A May 2020 message said: "i'm the only one who owns U and controls who I want to f— U." Grant alleged that McMahon shared nude photos and explicit videos of her without consent with other WWE employees, unnamed executives and stars, and directed her to have sex with them. The suit cited a July 2020 text that said others at WWE wanted to have sex with her after seeing photos on McMahon's phone, and the group laughed when he told them, "She may scream and try to say NO!!although it would B difficult to say anything with a c— down her throat."
