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Janel Grant, the former WWE employee who filed a sexual misconduct against former WWE chairman Vince McMahon, agreed to pause her lawsuit at the request of the U.S. Justice Department as the government conducts its own investigation, Bloomberg reports.
In February, the Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon, who has put all of his shares of WWE up for sale, was under federal investigation for sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations in recent months. Prosecutors in New York were reported to have been in contact with women who made sexual misconduct claims against McMahon prior to a lawsuit being filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant in January.
Federal agents reportedly executed a search warrant for McMahon's phone and a subpoena to acquire documents possessed by him in relation to allegations of “rape, sex trafficking, sexual assault, commercial sex transaction, harassment or discrimination” made by current or former WWE employees was delivered in relation to the probe, the Wall Street Journal reported. Grant filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on January 25 accusing McMahon of forcing a physical relationship in exchange for promised employment, which she claims led to her feeling "trapped in an impossible situation" in which she had to adhere to his demands or face ruin.
“Ms. Grant feared she had everything to lose and faced negative consequences no matter what happened,” the lawsuit states via NBC News.
McMahon and former executive John Laurinaitis were both specifically mentioned in the lawsuit, which alleges "sex trafficking, civil battery, intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress and negligence."
McMahon officially resigned from his position as executive chairman of TKO, a parent company launched by Endeavor following its purchase of WWE in April 2023, last Friday (January 26). In July 2022, the Wall Street Journal, which exclusively reported WWE's investigation a $3 million hush-money settlement paid by McMahon to a woman over an alleged affair, reported that the 78-year-old paid more than $12 million in hush money to four women during the past 16 years in an effort to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity.
McMahon, has been married to his wife, Linda -- who served as WWE's president and later CEO from 1980 to 2009 and later as Small Business Administration chief as part of former President Donald Trump's administration from 2017 to 2019 -- since 1966.