TKO Executive Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon is seen during a ceremony announcing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has joined the Board of Directors for TKO at New York Stock Exchange on January 23, 2024 in New York City.
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The co-defendant in the bombshell lawsuit accusing former WWE boss Vince McMahon of sexual abuse and sex trafficking has agreed to cooperate with and give evidence to the woman suing the pro wrestling mogul and the company.
The co-defendant, John Laurinaitis, also reached a confidential settlement with McMahon’s accuser, Janel Grant, according to a statement issued by their representatives on Wednesday.
A filing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut shows that lawyers for Grant and Laurinaitis agreed to dismiss her lawsuit against as it applies to the former wrestler and WWE executive with prejudice, which means that it cannot be refiled.
“John Laurinaitis has agreed to cooperate and provide evidence in Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE,” the reps said in the statement obtained by NBC News.
“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,” the reps said.
“Mr. Laurinaitis looks forward to moving on with his life. We cannot provide any additional details at this time.”
Jessica Rosenberg, a lawyer for McMahon, in a statement to CNBC, said, “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,” Rosenberg said. “No matter how many press releases her team issues, the truth remains unchanged. As Mr. Laurinaitis’s lawyer previously said: ‘Mr. Laurinaitis corroborates Mr. McMahon in publicly declaring that Ms. Grant’s allegations of sexual abuse and coercion in her Complaint are completely unfounded.’ “
A lawyer for WWE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Grant first sued the defendants in January 2024, a spokesman for McMahon said, “This lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the truth.”
Grant’s settlement with Laurinaitis comes three weeks after she filed an amended civil complaint against him, McMahon, and WWE.
McMahon resigned as the executive chairman of the board of TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship — in January 2024 after Grant filed her lawsuit.
In January 2025, McMahon agreed to settle administrative charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging he violated federal securities laws by failing to inform WWE’s board of directors that he had signed non-disclosure agreements with two women whom he promised to pay $10.5 million to keep quiet about his sexual conduct.
McMahon agreed to pay a $400,000 civil penalty in that case, and reimburse the WWE $1.3 million after consenting to an order finding he violated a securities law.
McMahon’s wife, former WWE executive Linda McMahon, is currently serving as secretary of the U.S. Education Department under the couple’s friend, President Donald Trump.
In October, both McMahons, WWE and TKO Holdings were sued in a complaint in Baltimore County, Maryland, accusing Vince McMahon of being aware of but failing to stop a wrestling ringside announcer from luring so-called “ring boys” as young as 12 and 13 years old to work on ring crews “to sexually abuse them” in the 1980s and 1990s.
A lawyer for Vince McMahon told NBC News at the time of the suit that they were based on old “false claims.”
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