Janel Grant Says ‘Graphic’ Evidence Was Shared Without Consent During Vince McMahon Investigation

Janel Grant says that during the WWE Board’s investigation of Vince McMahon, “explicitly graphic” evidence was provided to the Board without her consent. As you likely know, Grant sued McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis in January of 2024 alleging that McMahon sexually abused, assaulted and trafficked her. The lawsuit resulted in McMahon, who has denied the allegations, resigning from TKO and WWE shortly after.

Grant has been speaking out about the matter for some time, including the WWE Board’s conduct during its investigation into McMahon’s hush payments to Grant and others in 2022. She shared a post to Instagram on Thursday where she said that during the Board’s investigation, photos and descriptions that depicted her in “that vulnerable and/or compromising way” was provided to the board without her consent.

Grant noted that she did not know of this information being shared before reading about it in public documents in the shareholder’s case shareholder’s lawsuit against WWE, which is moving toward a settlement.

Grant said in the post:

What I know: In 2022, I believed in good faith that I was participating in a company’s publicly announced investigation. I spent six figures on retainers and medical care. I onboarded a legal team. We spent months of time preparing for an investigation that closed without speaking to me.

What I didn’t know: I learned some things about my past that I didn’t know before while reading public documents from a shareholder’s case.

Without my knowledge and without my consent, explicitly graphic evidence was produced to a special committee as part of this investigation. These photos and exchanges, described in plurals, depict me in some vulnerable and/or compromising way.

The nature of this evidence? Descriptors in documents include “s*xual”
“very graphic language and photos”, “something that looks more like s*xual abuse”
“tr*fficking”, “nefarious” and…

Without my knowledge and without my consent, this evidence was duced, viewed, distilled into graphic summaries, and read out to then current members of the Board of Directors, including some in positions of upper management, and future board members.
I didn’t know any of this until now.

Nobody told me. Nobody told my attorneys (despite the active communications between attorneys). Put aside not speaking with me…
• Why weren’t we notified that this was produced?
• Why were we not told how it was being used?
• Who saw this evidence?
• Who got read outs?
• Where are copies of these images and read outs saved?

Why am I sharing this? 1 don’t want anything remotely like this to happen to anyone else. To see this gives us the ability to clear it, heal from it, address the systems/cultures that enabled it, and create holistic solutions to better support and protect the rights of people.

Safety matters. Dignity matters. How we treat each other matters.

Grant’s lawsuit against McMahon and WWE is now moving to private arbitration after lawyers for Grant, McMahon, and WWE filed a joint motion to do so in June. A joint status report for the motion must be filed by July 10th, next Friday.

If you know someone who is being abused, or if you yourself a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Call 1-800-656-4673 to be connected with the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

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