Steve Wynn sex scandal

Yes, of the Wynn casinos.

After she gave Mr. Wynn a manicure, [a Wynn salon employee] said, he pressured her to take her clothes off and told her to lie on the massage table he kept in his office suite, according to people she gave the account to. The manicurist said she told Mr. Wynn she didn’t want to have sex and was married, but he persisted in his demands that she do so, and ultimately she did disrobe and they had sex.

[...]

Mr. Wynn later paid the manicurist a $7.5 million settlement, according to people familiar with the matter.

The incident was referenced, in broad terms, in a lawsuit in which Mr. Wynn’s ex-wife, Elaine Wynn, seeks to lift restrictions on the sale of her stock in Wynn Resorts Ltd. Attorneys for Mr. Wynn in a court filing admitted he made the personal payment.

[...]

Mr. Wynn said that “the instigation of these accusations is the continued work of my ex-wife Elaine Wynn, with whom I am involved in a terrible and nasty lawsuit in which she is seeking a revised divorce settlement.”

  

Wives are troublesome.

[A] woman who was a salon manager at the time said she filed a written report to human resources. She said she got a call from an executive, Doreen Whennen, castigating her for filing to HR and saying she should have taken the matter directly to Ms. Whennen.

The former manager said no one followed up with her about the matter. The manicurist soon left.

Ms. Whennen, who is no longer at the company, declined to comment.

[...]

>Beyond this incident, dozens of people The Wall Street Journal interviewed who have worked at Mr. 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.

In response to written questions about the manicurist’s and others’ allegations, Mr. Wynn said, “The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous.”

Which is why I only paid the woman $7.5 million.

Former employees said their awareness of Mr. Wynn’s power in Las Vegas, combined with the knowledge that the jobs they held were among the best-paying available there, added up to a feeling of dependence and intimidation when Mr. Wynn made requests of them.

Some said that feeling was heightened at times by the presence in a confined office space of one or more of his German shepherds, trained to respond to commands in German.

Jesus Christ.

They told of female employees hiding in the bathroom or back rooms when they learned he was on the way to the salon.

[...]

Most of those who spoke to the Journal about Mr. Wynn said they worried that doing so could hurt their ability to work elsewhere because of his influence in the casino industry and the state.

“Everybody was petrified,” said Jorgen Nielsen, a former artistic director at the salon. Mr. Nielsen said he and others repeatedly told high-level company executives Mr. Wynn’s sexual advances were causing a problem, but “nobody was there to help us.”

[...]

Mr. Wynn, turning 76 on Saturday, is a towering figure in Las Vegas and the wider gambling industry. As builder of the Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, Wynn and Encore casinos in Las Vegas—lavish, multiuse resorts with features such as artificial volcanoes, dancing fountains and French chefs—he brought a new level of sophistication and scale to the Strip.

Mr. Wynn no longer owns the Mirage, Treasure Island or Bellagio, but his empire now includes two casinos bearing his name in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, and he is building a $2.4 billion Wynn casino in the Boston area. He is the chairman and chief executive of Wynn Resorts.

[...]

Mr. Wynn’s political profile also has grown. He is a former casino-business rival of President Donald Trump, who said in 2016 that Mr. Wynn was a “great friend” whose advice he valued. After Mr. Trump’s election, Mr. Wynn became the Republican National Committee’s finance chairman.

How interesting.

UPDATE: