Vince McMahon, WWE & Janel Grant Request For Sex Trafficking Lawsuit To Be Moved To Private Arbitration

In a filing today with the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, Janel Grant, WWE, and Vince McMahon have jointly requested for an upcoming hearing about whether or not Grant's lawsuit would go to arbitration to be adjourned as the sides are in active discussions about moving the case to private arbitration.

The filing states: "PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the parties respectfully submit this joint motion for a short adjournment of the upcoming hearing on Defendants' Motions to Compel Arbitration and Plaintiff's Renewed Motion for Leave to Serve Motion-Related Discovery, which is currently scheduled for June 16, 2026. The parties are in active discussions regarding a potential agreement to arbitrate the dispute in confidential arbitration that would moot those motions. They seek this relief in good faith, to avoid unnecessarily consuming the Court’s and the parties’ resources - and so they can focus on progressing the potential arbitration agreement. The Parties respectfully propose that the Court temporarily adjourn the hearing and allow them to file a Joint Status Report within 21 days."

Judge Sarah F. Russell has yet to rule on the request, but it would be considered unlikely for the judge not to grant a request from all parties. Should the case be moved to arbitration, it will mean the dispute will be resolved confidentially, away from the public eye.

The case has been ongoing since January 2024 when Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis, accusing McMahon of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and physical and emotional abuse, WWE of attempting to sweep the allegations "under the rug", and John Laurinaitis of sexual assault.

Grant - a former WWE employee from June 2019 until March 2022 - accused McMahon of abusing her over a three-year period, which included her allegedly being sexually assaulted at WWE's offices by McMahon and Laurinaitis.

Grant's lawsuit resulted in Vince McMahon's resignation as TKO executive chairman one day after sponsors, including WWE's then-top sponsor Slim Jim, withdrew their support from the company. TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and TKO President Mark Shapiro told McMahon it would be in the best interests of the company for him to resign, which he then did.

Grant filed an expanded lawsuit in January 2025, while John Laurinaitis was removed as a defendant in May 2025 after he agreed to cooperate with Grant's legal team headed by her attorney Ann Callis.

While not a defendant, Brock Lesnar was named in Grant's amended lawsuit in January 2025 as Vince McMahon allegedly directed Grant to produce "personalized sexual content" for Lesnar and organised sexual encounters between her and the WWE wrestler as part of Lesnar's agreement to return to the company in August 2021. Under the pseudonym 'Polish Joe', Lesnar allegedly sent Grant unsolicited photos of his genitals and directed her to send him a video of her urinating.

Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, Brad Blum, and another WWE executive, Brian Nurse, were also accused of enabling Vince McMahon's misconduct.

Janel Grant's lawsuit moving forward or going to arbitration hinged on whether or not the judge decided the nondisclosure agreement she signed on January 28, 2022 was enforceable. Grant alleged it was not, stating that she was sleep-deprived, emotionally and physically distressed, and experiencing suicidal ideations in the days and weeks leading up to the signing of the NDA, which she allegedly signed under duress. Grant cited the Speak Out Act and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 as further reasons why the NDA was not enforceable.

WWE and Vince McMahon since 2024 have filed motions on multiple occasions for the lawsuit to be moved to private arbitration, citing a clause in the NDA that all disagreements be resolved in private mediation.

As part of the NDA, Vince McMahon agreed to pay Janel Grant $3 million in instalments. The former WWE CEO stopped making the payments after an initial $1 million instalment, with McMahon claiming that Grant had leaked information to the press. This led to Grant's January 2024 lawsuit.

Grant allegedly leaking information to the press was in relation to the Wall Street Journal article in June 2022 which noted the WWE Board of Directors were investigating hush money payments made by McMahon to a departing WWE employee with whom he had an affair. Grant on June 10, 2026 denied that she sent information of her relationship to the WWE Board of Directors in 2022. Grant on June 10 also posted a deposition from former WWE board member Michelle McKenna in which McKenna stated that she believes Nick Khan tipped off the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal article kicked off a hush money and sexual misconduct scandal around Vince McMahon which resulted in his "retirement" from the company in July 2022 after the SEC and federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York opened criminal investigations into undeclared payments made by McMahon from 2007 until 2022 of up to $19.6 million. This included $14.6 million in payments to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity, while the other $5 million was paid to the Donald Trump Foundation in relation to the 45th and 47th president of the United States' appearances on WWE TV in 2007 and 2009.

In addition to the payments to Grant, Vince McMahon signed NDAs with several women, including a former WWE contractor who McMahon allegedly sexually harassed and sent unsolicited nudes to, a former WWE wrestler who was allegedly coerced by McMahon into performing oral sex, former WWE referee Rita Chatterton who accused McMahon of rape, a former spa manager who accused McMahon of sexually assaulting her, and a former WWE employee who was allegedly demoted after ending an affair with John Laurinaitis.

McMahon's retirement from WWE lasted until January 2023, when he forced his way back into the company and began a process to sell WWE. This led to WWE merging with the Endeavor-owned UFC under TKO Group Holdings in September 2023, but it was alleged in a WWE shareholders' lawsuit over the merger that McMahon preselected Endeavor as Ari Emanuel assured McMahon's future with WWE.

Janel Grant's lawsuit was paused from June 2024 until December 2024 following a request from the United States Department of Justice due to federal prosecutors continuing to investigate the sex trafficking and sexual misconduct allegations against McMahon. No charges were filed against McMahon after the stay on the lawsuit ended and McMahon's legal team claimed in early 2025 that the criminal investigation was over. This came after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States for the second time, with Vince McMahon's wife Linda McMahon serving as the United States secretary of education in Trump's cabinet, although he and Linda are separated.