Steve Wynn, the casino mogul formerly CEO of Wynn Resorts, has been ordered to pay a fine of $10m and has agreed to not be involved in any gaming activities in Nevada as part of a settlement with the state’s Gaming Control Board.
Wynn, who has long been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct from female subordinates, has been in a long legal battle with the Nevada Gaming Control Board after the regulator attempted to strike his gaming license in 2019. This caused a battle between the two parties that resulted in this out-of-court settlement.
As the Nevada Independent has reported, the 81-year-old has agreed to pay a $10m fine and has signed a document stating he will never be involved in the Nevada gaming industry again.
However, he will be allowed to hold up to 5% of stock in a company that is active in Nevada.
The settlement further states that Wynn does not have the right to a public hearing over these matters, and should he be found to break the terms of the agreement, the NGCB will have the legal right to seek unsuitability grounds on Wynn.
This story goes back to 2018 when news broke in the Wall Street Journal accusing Wynn of abusing women within the Wynn Resorts business over decade-long periods. These revelations caused Wynn to resign from Wynn Resorts, sell his stock and give up his gaming license.
But the story didn’t end there as Wynn Resorts paid out a $20m fine to the NGCB and a further fine to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for the failure of executives to investigate allegations of sexual abuse of its employees in the aftermath of the WSJ story.
Since then, Wynn has undergone a transformation of its corporate governance and the regulator has since acknowledged the change in culture.
A Wynn statement in 2019, after the regulator’s review of the scandal, explained: “This brings to a conclusion the Nevada gaming regulators’ review of who in the company was aware of allegations against the company’s founder and former CEO.
“We are pleased that the Nevada Gaming Commission has recognized the company’s transformation and ‘refreshed culture’ over the course of the last 12 months and acknowledged the ‘paradigm shift’ that has occurred within the company.
“The completion of the review by Nevada regulators is an important step forward, and we deeply appreciate the trust and confidence they have placed in the new leadership of Wynn Resorts to ‘grow and prosper.’”
The battle between the firm’s disgraced former CEO and the regulator continued but has now seemed to have reached a conclusion. Wynn will pay the $10m and agree to not be an executive of a Nevada gaming firm and, in return, the regulator will stop pursuing unsuitability.
