Representatives for former World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon responded to an SEScoops article published on Monday after counsel for Janel Grant, who is suing McMahon, WWE and John Laurinaitis in federal district court on allegations related to sex crimes, filed a motion for a status conference on Monday.
Attorneys for McMahon also filed a motion of opposition in Connecticut federal district court, asking the court to deny Grant a status conference and move to an arbitration hearing. Attorneys for WWE, McMahon and Laurinaitis have asked the court to have Grant’s complaint taken to private arbitration as per her non-disclosure agreement with McMahon, which was signed in 2022.
McMahon, WWE and Laurinaitis want Grant to argue her case per an arbitration clause in the non-disclosure agreement she signed in 2022.
Grant’s counsel said on Monday that their client’s NDA was one of two for which Vince McMahon was fined and paid restitution for after an investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission finished last week. Grant’s counsel filed her status conference motion asking the court to meet to organize a schedule and that the plaintiff needed more time to amend its complaint after the SEC investigation finished.
“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,” attorney Jessica T. Rosenberg said in a statement to SEScoops. “Any claims to the contrary made by Janel Grant’s team are just another desperate PR stunt.”
In a post on Twitter/X, Grant representative Kendra Barkoff Lamy responded to Rosenberg’s statement.
“(Vince McMahon) 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,” Lamy said.
SEScoops reached out to prosecutors at the Southern District of New York, where the McMahon criminal investigation was taking place. When asked if the case was still ongoing, a media representative said, “No comment.”
Grant attorney Ann Callis said in a statement to SEScoops on Monday that McMahon has remained under federal investigation after a stay on the civil case expired in December. A federal prosecutor in May requested a stay on the case in May 2024.
In the opposition motion filed on Monday. McMahon’s attorneys asked the court to move straight to the arbitration hearing. The motion said Grant’s counsel had adequate time to amend its complaint during the previous three weeks and it had missed the date filings, according to civil procedure rules.
“Plaintiff’s announced plan to file an amended complaint (which she could have done any time in the past three weeks) would not impact the deadline to respond to Defendants’ pending motion and does not necessitate a status conference,” the motion said.