Billionaire casino mogul and RNC finance chair Steve Wynn accused of sexual assault – By Eliza Relman (businessinsider.com) / Jan 26 2018
A lengthy Wall Street Journal report on Friday detailed dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct, including assault, against Steve Wynn, a billionaire casino mogul who serves as the Republican National Committee’s finance chairman.
Dozens of people who spoke with The Journal described decades of sexual misconduct by the billionaire, accusing him of regularly intimidating employees of his casinos into performing sex acts. In one case, the report said, Wynn paid a $7.5 million settlement to a manicurist who accused him of forcing her to have sex with him in 2005.
Wynn — who built the Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, Wynn, and Encore casinos in Las Vegas — joined the RNC as its top fundraiser following President Donald Trump’s election. He donated $729,217 to Trump’s inauguration through his company, Wynn Resorts.
Trump, a former business rival, in 2016 called Wynn, who is estimated to be worth $2.5 billion, a “great friend,” The Journal said.
The settlement with the manicurist was referenced in a lawsuit filed by Wynn’s ex-wife, Elaine Wynn, in which she is seeking the elimination of restrictions on the sale of her stock in Wynn Resorts, the report says.
Wynn, 75, has denied all the sexual-misconduct allegations against him and blamed his ex-wife for the “instigation of these accusations” as part of what he called a “terrible and nasty lawsuit,” The Journal reported.
“The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous,” Wynn told The Journal in response to the allegations.
He continued: “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.”
In a later statement to CNBC, Wynn Resorts accused Wynn’s ex-wife of launching a “negative public relations campaign” to “tarnish” Wynn’s reputation in an effort to pressure him for a revised divorce settlement.
“It is noteworthy that although Ms. Wynn says she knew about the 2005 allegations involving Mr. Wynn in 2009, she never made them known to the board of directors, of which she was then a member, and she did not raise them until after Mr. Wynn remarried and the shareholders of Wynn Resorts voted not to elect her to the board,” the statement said.
The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-wynn-accused-of-sexual-assault-2018-1
PB/TK – I don’t care what association who has to who, but is this going to a case of Wynn being judged in the Court of Social Media or are people gonna wave off the accusers.
