Former top brass at Wynn Resorts orchestrated a multiyear cover-up to shield the casino empire’s disgraced founder Steve Wynn from a slew of sexual-misconduct allegations, an investigation found.
Massachusetts regulators released a 199-page report on Tuesday that documented harassment accusations by female employees against the Las Vegas gaming tycoon dating back to 2005, as well as settlements paid to silence the alleged victims.
The explosive report noted that key executives, most of whom have since left the company, were aware of the allegations and settlements and failed to notify regulators.
“Over the course of years, a limited group of executives and employees in positions of authority at the company, including in the legal division, disregarded company policies when it came to certain allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Wynn involving employees,” the report said.
In 2005, a Wynn Las Vegas manicurist claimed that she was raped and impregnated by Wynn. Although the allegations were reported to then-chief executive Marc Schorr, no internal investigation occurred.
A $7.5 million settlement with the alleged victim was “quickly reached and structured for utmost secrecy,” which included an LLC called “Entity Y” being named in the settlement instead of Steve Wynn, the investigators found.
The stealthy maneuvers were typical among Wynn’s top executives, with investigators repeatedly noting they failed to “document and record” allegations against Wynn in a centralized file.
As recently as 2015, two employees at the Wynn Las Vegas spa complained about Wynn’s behavior during his massage sessions.
One employee, “Emma,” claimed Wynn would “insist on no coverings” during the massage and would “demand more inner thigh work.” Moments before a scheduled couples massage with his wife, Wynn arrived early and asked for a “sensual massage” and frequently exposed his genitals in an “intentional” manner, she claimed.
Another masseuse named “Fran” said Wynn would speak “seductively” during their sessions and did not like to be draped during the massage.
Current Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox was told of one of the spa incidents at the time — when he was serving as president— “but he understood it to be in the context of a couples massage and it did not raise significant alarm to him,” the report said.
Meanwhile an ex-executive who was informed of the spa incidents was also aware of a 2014 rape allegation against Wynn and “failed to take any action.”
The report was released ahead of a three-day hearing that will determine whether Wynn Resorts will win a license to run a $2.6 billion casino outside of Boston.
“Their efforts at secrecy made it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible for gaming regulators to detect this potentially derogatory information through typical regulatory means, which rely heavily on robust self-disclosures by the applicant/licensee,” the report said.
While the regulators noted the personnel and governance changes that have occurred at Wynn, it did not give the casino operator a free pass.
“Those changes at the company do not … erase the fact that the corporate failures revealed in this investigation are significant, repetitive, and reflective of the company’s historical governance practices” the report said.
Wynn Resorts said in a statement Tuesday that it “does not contest the facts contained in the IEB’s report.” Wynn has called the allegations “preposterous.”
Since many of the allegations were made public by a Wall Street Journal report in January 2018, Wynn Resorts said has taken “swift and decisive action” and has evolved from a “founder-led organization to a global enterprise overseen by a capable, independent and accountable Board of Directors.”
“Any employee who was aware of allegations of sexual assault against the Company’s founder and did not investigate or report is no longer with the company,” Wynn Resorts said.
