According to a bombshell Wall Street Journal report, casino magnate Steve Wynn, who is the current Republican National Committee Finance Chair, has been accused by several employees who work at his casinos of sexual misconduct. The paper details a number of alleged incidents of Wynn targeting manicurists, masseuses, and others. Regarding one alleged incident, from 2005, Wynn reportedly pressured a married employee of the Wynn Las Vegas casino to have sex with him and then paid her a settlement:
After being told of the allegations, the woman’s supervisor said she filed a detailed report to the casino’s human-resources department recounting the episode. Mr. Wynn later paid the manicurist a $7.5 million settlement, according to people familiar with the matter.
The report goes on to cite other stories of Wynn pressuring employees into performing sex acts. According to the paper, those who were interviewed (dozens of people) have spoken of “behavior that cumulatively would amount to a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Wynn.”
In a statement to the Journal, Wynn called the allegations “preposterous” and blamed his ex-wife, due to some allegations surfacing in a lawsuit regarding her share of the company’s stocks. “We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth, and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits. It is deplorable for anyone to find themselves in this situation,” Wynn said.
In response to this report, shares in Wynn Resorts, the company Wynn serves as CEO and which he owns 12% of, dropped eight percent within hours.
(Via Wall Street Journal and CNBC)