Steve Wynn counters sex misconduct claims, faces new cases
Wynn Resorts Ltd’s former chief executive and chairman Steve Wynn is facing new allegations of sexual misconduct made by two former employees of the firm. Mr Wynn (pictured) has meanwhile – via a spokesperson – countered several previously-aired claims about events said to date back to the 1970s.
The fresh allegations centre on two massage therapists that have claimed in separate lawsuits filed earlier this week that Mr Wynn coerced them into sexual acts – respectively between 2006-2008 and 2011-2012 – while they were working for Wynn Resorts, the Associated Press reported on Thursday. Each of the women is also suing the board of Wynn Resorts, stating the firm’s directors should have reasonably known that Mr Wynn was a “danger to female employees”.
Wynn Resorts said on February 12 it had hired an outside legal firm to “assist” a committee formed of some of the company’s independent directors reviewing the sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Wynn.
One of the women claims Mr Wynn forced her into sexual acts about 50 times over the course of about three years starting in 2006, one year after she joined Wynn Resorts, according to the Associated Press report.
Both women allege Mr Wynn would give them a “tip” – of US$400 and US$1,000 respectively – after each sexual act, telling them to not talk about the matter with anyone.
Earlier this week, police reports quoted by the Associated Press stated two other women made new allegations against Mr Wynn regarding matters dating back to the 1970s. One of the women reportedly accused Mr Wynn of raping her several times, with one child resulting from the alleged acts; the other woman said she had to resign from her job – at a casino under Mr Wynn – after refusing to have sexual relations with him following the end of a consensual sexual relationship between the two.
Commenting on the cases dating from the 1970s, a spokesperson for Mr Wynn stated the casino mogul “has never been supplied with these unsubstantiated accounts or the names of these accusers by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.”
The spokesperson added, quoted by U.S. media outlet CNBC: “It’s revolting that the media repeated such inflammatory claims from events that supposedly occurred four decades ago without the slightest bit of fact-checking or scepticism. This is not journalism. It is the peddling of smut and it is atrociously unfair to Mr Wynn, his family and friends.”
Wynn Resorts warned investors on Wednesday that fallout from the sexual misconduct claims against Mr Wynn could include regulators ruling against the “suitability” of the group as stockholder of its regulated casino subsidiaries; and or lead regulators to rule against Mr Wynn’s suitability as a shareholder in the group.
Mr Wynn stepped down as the casino group’s chairman and chief executive on February 6. The move followed media reports detailing allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by former Wynn Resorts employees.
Wynn Macau Ltd – the Macau subsidiary of Wynn Resorts – announced on the same day Mr Wynn had resigned as chairman and CEO of the Macau operation with immediate effect. He also stepped down as director and officer of the unit’s subsidiaries, including Wynn Resorts (Macau) SA, the entity that holds the Wynn group’s Macau gaming concession.
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