A longtime consigliere of former WWE chief Vince McMahon has switched sides in a lawsuit that alleges McMahon and others sexually abused and trafficked a woman for years.
Lawyers for the woman, Janel Grant, said Wednesday they have dropped their claims against John Laurinaitis and reached a settlement with him. The suit, filed in January 2024, alleged McMahon and Laurinaitis sexually assaulted and trafficked her for years while Grant worked directly under Laurinaitis at WWE offices.
“John Laurinaitis has agreed to cooperate and provide evidence in Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE,” her lawyers said in a joint statement with Laurinaitis’s representatives. “His agreement to a confidential settlement is a pivotal next step toward holding McMahon and WWE accountable and bringing justice to Ms. Grant after years of sexual abuse and trafficking. Mr. Laurinaitis looks forward to moving on with his life. We cannot provide any additional details at this time.”
In a brief court filing Wednesday, Grant said she was dismissing her claims against Laurinaitis with prejudice, meaning they cannot be filed again.
Laurinaitis worked at WWE until 2022, rising to become its head of talent relations. He was fired that year when The Wall Street Journal reported that several women had signed settlements and nondisclosure agreements with him and McMahon over alleged sexual misconduct.
Grant sued McMahon, WWE, and Laurinaitis last year, alleging McMahon trafficked her to Laurinaitis, directing her to start each workday by having sex with him.
Her original complaint graphically details an incident in July 2021 when McMahon and Laurinaitis raped her and describes Laurinaitis’s general behavior as “extreme and outrageous.”
McMahon has denied all of Grant’s allegations, saying the two had a consensual relationship.
WWE and its parent company, Endeavor, could not immediately be reached for comment.
“Today’s dismissal of John Laurinaitis as a defendant doesn’t alter the facts of this case in any way. Vince McMahon never mistreated Janel Grant,” McMahon’s lawyer, Jessica Rosenberg, said through a spokesperson. “No matter how many press releases her team issues, the truth remains unchanged.”
Lawyers for Laurinaitis did not respond to messages requesting comment, but have made widely varying claims about Grant’s lawsuit, even calling him a “victim.”
In February of last year, lawyer Edward Brennan, who is still representing Laurinaitis, said his client had also been abused by McMahon.
“Laurinaitis is a victim in this case, not a predator,” Brennan told Vice. “Power, control, employment supervisory capacity, dictatorial sexual demands with repercussions if not met. Count how many times in the complaint Vince exerts control over both of them.”
Months later, the Laurinaitis camp appeared to have reversed course. In a May 2024 court filing, his lawyers joined McMahon’s motion to compel arbitration. (McMahon says a nondisclosure agreement between him and Grant requires their disputes be resolved in arbitration; Grant’s suit says McMahon voided the NDA by failing to make a payment.)
“Mr. Laurinaitis corroborates Mr. McMahon in publicly declaring that Ms. Grant’s allegations of sexual abuse and coercion in her Complaint are completely unfounded,” Brennan said last year. “My client will fight these false allegations together with Mr. McMahon in the proper forum, arbitration.”
In response to McMahon’s motions requesting arbitration, Grant refiled her lawsuit, adding new details in an amended complaint filed earlier this month. The new complaint names several previously unnamed WWE corporate officers whose identities were first reported by Front Office Sports in March 2024.
McMahon retired as WWE chairman amid reports of misconduct in the summer of 2022, but returned the next January, eventually taking over as the head of TKO, an entity that was formed after WWE and UFC merged under parent company Endeavor.
McMahon resigned a second time after Grant’s lawsuit was filed, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel took over as the chairman of the $31 billion TKO after McMahon’s departure.
In January of this year, McMahon agreed to a $1.7 million settlement with the federal government over his failure to disclose his use of company funds to make hush-money payments to several women. One of those women was Grant, whom he reached a $7 million settlement with in 2022.
—Ryan Glasspiegel contributed reporting. This story has been updated with comment from McMahon’s lawyer.
