2:22 PM PT -- TKO released a statement on the matter ... saying, "Mr. McMahon does not control TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE."

"While this matter predates our TKO executive team’s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally."

A former WWE employee is suing Vince McMahon ... claiming he repeatedly sexually assaulted her, sex trafficked her -- and then paid her off to stay quiet about it all.

The disturbing allegations were made by Janel Grant in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in a federal court in Connecticut.

In the suit, Grant says she met McMahon back in 2019 ... at a time when she was at rock bottom. She says her parents had just died ... and she was struggling to find work.

However, she says after being introduced to McMahon through a mutual friend, he promised to get her a gig in the WWE.

But, according to the suit, as McMahon was finding her an entry-level role in his company ... he slowly began to use his "life-changing promises" to coerce her into sexual acts.

Grant says just after she was told she had a "legal administrator-coordinator" job with a salary of $75,000 inside McMahon's wrestling org. ... he "trapped her in an impossible situation." She alleges she "feared adverse career and personal consequences and legal retaliation if she declined his advances" -- and began to engage in what she called nonconsensual sexual activity with him.

Grant said in the suit the job she had been given required little work. In fact, according to the lawsuit, she was assigned an additional role in McMahon's XFL to help fill her time.

Grant, though, claims in her suit McMahon suddenly stopped referring to her as a friend ... and "largely stopped talking to [her] outside of sexting and fantasy talk." She alleges he forced her to send him explicit pictures, some of which she says he would share with others in the WWE. A short time later, she says he recruited other men and began sex trafficking her.

She says in May 2020, McMahon organized a threesome with her and her physical therapist ... telling her "he would lose a friendship if she did not go through with it." She claims in the suit that during the encounter, he defecated on her head but made her continue to perform sex acts with the two while she was covered in feces. She alleges in the days following, he texted her "i'm the only one who owns U and controls who I want to f*** U."

Several months later, the suit states, McMahon recruited John Laurinaitis -- a former WWE superstar who was at the time a high-ranking exec in the company -- "to join them."

Grant claims McMahon pressed her to send explicit pictures to Laurinaitis. In December 2020, she says McMahon arranged for her to have a threesome with Laurinaitis as well.

She says in the months afterward, she was moved to the WWE's talent relations department, where she reported to Laurinaitis. Once that move happened, she stated in her suit that there was an expectation from both McMahon and Laurinaitis "that she engage with Laurinaitis sexually, both physically and with explicit content."

In her suit, Grant says she was directed to "serve herself to [Laurinaitis] as 'breakfast'" at a nearby hotel before the start of their work day. She also claims McMahon texted her, "On days when he's in town, I want him to f*** U every morning and later In the office too."

She says the arrangements left her "miserable and enraged," but "in her years of experience with McMahon, she knew her requests to stop would be ignored at best or used to destroy her career and reputation at worst."

Grant stated in her suit that in June 2021, McMahon and Laurinaitis raped her in Laurinaitis' office. She says at the outset of the encounter, she told them "No, no, no" and "Please stop," but claims McMahon told her, "Take it, bitch."

Grant says a week later, McMahon forced himself on her again over a massage table at WWE's headquarters ... before giving her $15,000 in Bloomingdale's gift cards.

Grant also alleged in her suit that McMahon used her to help him sign a WWE Superstar. The suit describes the talent as "a world-famous athlete and former UFC Heavyweight Champion." The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday this was Brock Lesnar.

In the suit, Grant claims McMahon ordered her to create "personalized sexual content" for the WWE Superstar. She also says he advertised "a sexual encounter with her" to the wrestler while trying to negotiate a new booking contract.

Ultimately, Grant claims in her suit McMahon distanced himself from her in January 2022 ... claiming his wife, Linda McMahon, had found out about their relationship. Grant says it all led to McMahon's request that she sign a non-disclosure agreement.

In the lawsuit, Grant says she agreed to be paid $3 million to sign the NDA ... but she claims that after receiving $1 million, McMahon didn't make further payments.

Grant says she's been traumatized from the whole ordeal and is now seeking unspecified damages ... as well as for a judge to invalidate her NDA.