Top Exec Claims Full Compliance in Vince McMahon’s Trafficking Lawsuit Allegations

Vince McMahon, formerly a board member of TKO Holdings, is embroiled in a human trafficking lawsuit and will likely go on for a long time. It appears WWE’s Head of Communications has also addressed the lawsuit and how WWE has been compliant along the way.

On January 25th, Janel Grant, a former WWE staff member, filed lawsuit against WWE, John Laurinaitis, and Vince McMahon, alleging incidents of sexual assault, emotional abuse, and sex trafficking dating back to March 2019. The lawsuit contains grave accusations against these high-profile individuals, shedding light on significant misconduct within the company and calling into question the safety and integrity of the workplace environment at WWE.

Chris Legentil, WWE’s Head of Communications and Executive Vice President for Talent Relations, discussed the company’s approach to ongoing legal matters in an interview with Richard Deitsch on the podcast Sports Media with Richard Deitsch. Legentil emphasized WWE’s compliance with legal processes, stating that while there are limits to what they can disclose, they have cooperated fully throughout the investigations.

Reporters such as Brandon Thurston and John Pollock, I’ll give those guys a shout. I think they really do good work. They’ve reported on the federal lawsuit accusing Vince McMahon and another former executive of sexual misconduct…How would you assess how forthcoming the WWE has been when it comes to Vince McMahon and the lawsuits that have been out there?

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In response to Deitsch’s question about coverage by reporters like Brandon Thurston and John Pollock, who have reported on federal lawsuits involving Vince McMahon, Legentil noted that WWE has been transparent within the boundaries of the legal constraints. He acknowledged the professionalism of Thurston and Pollock and mentioned that WWE understands the media’s role and their own responsibilities in addressing such issues.

”I would say that related to active legal situations, there’s clearly a limit on what we were able to say. But that said, as that investigation has gone on over time, we’ve been compliant all the way along and all the way through. And when we have the opportunity to answer questions, we do. And when there’s not that opportunity, we don’t.

And the media we found have understood that because they realize that sometimes there’s a lane we can take and other times there’s not.

But we agree that Brandon and John do good work. And, you know, you see them as regulars at our shows, at our press conferences, and they’re doing their jobs as reporters and we’re doing our job as the company.”

When asked about WWE’s current management and how it handles past issues, Chris Legentil said he has great confidence in Nick Khan and Paul Levesque. He praised them as smart business leaders who know where the company needs to go and mentioned that many wrestlers support their plans.

Legentil also pointed out that now that WWE is part of TKO and under top executives like Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, the management is stronger than ever. He believes that both current and future employees should feel positive about the leadership.

”So let me be clear on this point. We could not have better management than Nick Khan and Paul Levesque. They are excellent business people, but they understand the direction that the company needs to go. And I think that you’ve probably seen that in a lot of talent comments that they believe in the vision that Nick and Paul have.

And I think that more broadly, when you look at the fact that WWE is now part of TKO and a part of a media company that is run by Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, Andrew Schleimer, Maura McGreevy, really top-level executives, that management has never been stronger. And people, both talent and current and future employees should feel great about that.”

We had previously reported that lawyers for former WWE employee Janel Grant have filed pre-action discovery petition against Dr. Carlon Colker and his clinic, Peak Wellness, Inc and the trafficking lawsuit is currently on hold pending federal investigation, so we’ll have to see what will be revealed in the investigation.

What do you think of what Chris Legentil had to say about the sexual trafficking lawsuit? Will it eventually reach a conclusion? Let us know in the comments section below!