Janel Grant, a former employee of World Wrestling Entertainment who accused former CEO Vince McMahon in a January lawsuit of sex trafficking and abuse, has agreed to pause her case pending a federal investigation.
An attorney for Grant, Ann Callis, said in a statement Thursday that Grant agreed to “stay her case” at the request of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York “pending a non-public investigation.”
“We will cooperate with all appropriate next steps,” she said.
Jessica Rosenberg, an attorney for McMahon, maintained that the allegations were false.
“We remain confident the evidence will prove Ms. Grant’s allegations are false and her complaint is nothing more than a fabricated, vindictive narrative from a disgruntled former girlfriend,” Rosenberg said.
The Southern District of New York has declined to comment.
Grant’s lawsuit, which was filed in January in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, claimed that she was “the victim of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and trafficking at WWE.”
The lawsuit names the company, McMahon and former WWE executive John Laurinaitis as defendants.
At the time, Callis said the complaint sought "to hold accountable two WWE executives who sexually assaulted and trafficked Plaintiff Janel Grant, as well as the organization that facilitated or turned a blind eye to the abuse and then swept it under the rug.”
A spokesperson for McMahon said at the time that the lawsuit was “replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred and a vindictive distortion of the truth. He will vigorously defend himself.”
WWE and its parent company, TKO, have said they take Grant’s allegations “very seriously.” Laurinaitis has also denied any wrongdoing.
Following Grant’s accusations, McMahon resigned as executive chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment’s parent company.
NBC News has reported that federal investigators seized a phone from McMahon last summer and have been trying to determine whether federal law was broken in the conduct surrounding Grant’s allegations. WWE disclosed last summer that investigators served McMahon with a federal grand jury subpoena and executed a search warrant in July.
