Vince McMahon resigns from WWE one day after lawsuit accused him of sexual assault

Vince McMahon, the longtime chair and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, resigned from his positions with WWE and its parent company, the TKO Group, on Friday, one day after a former employee accused him of sexual assault and trafficking in a federal lawsuit.

WWE employees were informed of the changes in an email sent by Nick Kahn, president of WWE. “He will no longer have a role with TKO Group Holdings or WWE,” Kahn wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by the New York Times.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, accused McMahon of trafficking the employee, Janel Grant, as well as physically and emotionally abusing her. The graphic complaint, which also named John Laurinatis, a WWE executive, and the company itself as defendants, says McMahon and Laurinatis once took turns raping her, among numerous other allegations.

McMahon eventually pressured Grant to sign a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $3 million, according to the complaint, but paid her only $1 million.

In a statement released after his resignations, McMahon called Grant’s lawsuit a “vindictive distortion of the truth” and said he looked forward to clearing his name. But he decided to resign “out of respect” for TKO, WWE, their employees and wrestlers.