Stephen Wynn, Casino Mogul, Accused of Decades of Sexual Misconduct

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Stephen Wynn’s perch at the top of the casino industry was badly shaken on Friday following the disclosure of allegations that he engaged in a long pattern of sexual misconduct with employees of his casinos.
A detailed investigative report in The Wall Street Journal portrayed Mr. Wynn, a billionaire casino magnate and prominent political donor, as a man who frequently demanded naked massages from female employees, sometimes pressuring them for sex and to masturbate him. The newspaper said that the activity had gone on for decades and that some female employees had complained to supervisors about Mr. Wynn’s behavior.
Some of the women told The Journal that they had tried to avoid having to give Mr. Wynn massages by hiding in bathrooms, or entering fake appointments in record logs to make it look as if some of their colleagues were busy. The newspaper relied on court records and interviews with dozens of people who worked at his casinos.
Mr. Wynn, chairman and chief executive of Wynn Resorts, denied the allegations in a statement, saying, “The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous.”
“We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth,” he said, “and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits.”
The fallout from the story mounted during the day. Investors fled shares of Wynn Resorts, Mr. Wynn’s casino company, driving the stock price down 10 percent.
Gambling officials in Massachusetts, where Mr. Wynn’s company plans to open a $2.4 billion casino resort near Boston next year, said they had opened a review into the “troubling allegations” of Mr. Wynn’s behavior “to determine the appropriate next steps.”
The Wynn Resorts board met on Friday to form a committee of independent directors to investigate the allegations, saying in a statement that it is “deeply committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all of the company’s employees and to operating with the highest ethical standards.”
The allegations could also have political impact as well. Mr. Wynn was named chairman of the Republican National Committee’s finance committee shortly after the election of President Trump in November 2016. Mr. Trump has described Mr. Wynn as a friend.
Mr. Wynn and his companies have donated more than $5.2 million over the years to a mix of Republican and Democratic candidates and committees.
A spokesman for the R.N.C. did not respond to questions about whether Mr. Wynn would remain as the party’s finance chairman.
Michael Weaver, a spokesman for Mr. Wynn’s company, declined to comment when asked whether Mr. Wynn intended to step down from his R.N.C. post, and also declined to specify the last time Mr. Wynn had spoken to Mr. Trump. “In the past, Mr. Wynn has not disclosed publicly when he speaks to the president,” Mr. Weaver wrote in an email.
The allegations against Mr. Wynn are similar to the long history of sexual assault and misconduct documented by The New York Times in October against the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The report on Mr. Weinstein set off a wave of news reports about allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment against powerful men in Hollywood, the news media, politics, the arts, restaurants and other industries.
The onslaught of news reports about sexually aggressive men has been fueled, in part, by women coming forward to share their stories of sexual harassment under the banner of #MeToo

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