Casino Mogul Seemingly Emerges Unscathed From Decades-Long Sex Scandal
Former Pres. Donald Trump's gave Steve Wynn, former CEO of Wynn Resorts, a shout out after Trump's victory in the New Hampshire primary, as if Wynn had no history of serious sexual misconduct.
This month, two things happened that seem irreconcilable.
A 2019 sexual harassment lawsuit brought by nine anonymous female workers against Wynn Resorts ended in federal court with an out of court settlement. U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro sealed the terms of the settlement, which remain secret. The plaintiffs, casino salon workers, alleged Wynn Resorts LTD and Wynn Las Vegas covered up decades of sexual misconduct by former CEO Steve Wynn.
GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump gave Wynn, a billionaire and former GOP finance chairperson, a shout out to thank him for his support after Trump’s victory in the GOP New Hampshire primary on Jan. 23.
Once upon a time, politicians would have avoided association with a guy whom multiple women have alleged to be a cad, lecher, pervert, deviant, sicko and worse. But times have changed.
Many Americans today vote for the worst of two evils. Trump’s considerable baggage, including his questionable support for Wynn, will be weighed against Democratic Pres. Joe Biden’s failure to secure America’s borders while plunging America into Israel’s genocidal Mideast war (not to mention Biden’s looney imposition of trans ideology on the country and his questionable green energy policy).
Still, this was not your run of the mill sexual harassment lawsuit.
If authorities took the sexual abuse of female workers seriously, Wynn might have been criminally charged. Instead, multiple courts over the years allowed him to pay his way out of difficulties, while publicly disavowing any wrongdoing.
To its credit, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco revived the lawsuit in 2021 after Judge Navarro dismissed it. She said the women did not sufficiently justify their need to use pseudonyms and failed to reference specific individual harassment claims. The 9th Circuit panel said the women could amend the lawsuit to add individual harassment claims under fictitious names.
Expose
The Wall Street Journal did an expose in 2018 that found Wynn engaged in a decades-long reign of terror over female casino workers in Las Vegas. Wynn developed the Golden Nugget, Mirage, Treasure Island, Belladio. Wynn and Encore casinos. He was a powerful figure who could make or break highly-paid casino workers.
The WSJ reported that a married casino manicurist received a $7.5 million payment from Wynn after accusing him of forcing her to have sex in 2005. (She was reportedly impregnated.) She complained to her supervisor, who filed a detailed report to the casino’s human-resources department. Nothing happened.
Dozens of workers at Wynn’s casinos “told of behavior that cumulatively would amount to a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Wynn. Some described him pressuring employees to perform sex acts,” wrote the WSJ.
Wynn subsequently resigned as chairman and chief executive of Wynn Resorts and as the finance chairperson of the Republican National Committee. He was the first chief executive to be forced out as a result of the #MeToo movement, but ultimately fared much better than film producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Bill Cosby, who were jailed.
Following the WSJ expose, other casino employees stepped forward.
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