Steve Wynn, the casino magnate who has recently become popular with the defeat over Mohegan Sun and the winning of a casino licence that enabled Wynn Resorts to build a casino in the vicinity of Boston, is also having another kind of issues. Steve Wynn accused Jim Chanos of tarnishing his reputation by spreading false statements and claiming that Wynn has disobeyed an anti-bribery law.
The owner of Wynn Resorts, supported by his employees, filed a suit against Chanos who is said to be a prominent businessman, and now, the San Francisco’s Court is expected to take measures. Chanos, who is mainly famous as being involved in short-selling activities, was once involved in the management of Enron Corp.
The exact reason for the accusation was that during a private event at the end of April, Chanos has announced in front of a small circle that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was disregarded by the Wynn’s resorts branch office in Las Vegas.
According to Steve Wynn, the statement, made by Chanos was a complete lie that contradicted to the reputation he has been establishing during the years. Wynn pretends that neither the Las Vegas based Resort nor any other has ever dared to violate a law. Unspecified compensation and penalties are sought in the lawsuit.
Steve Wynn also said that his Resorts are thoroughly inspected by different US Commissions and authorities and contrary to Chanos’ statement, none of the Nevada and Massachusetts gambling regulators have succeeded in finding out evidence that approves of Chanos’ accusation.
Michael Weaver, a spokesperson of Wynn Resorts, made an announcement, claiming that when the reputation of such a respected person and his long-standing company can potentially be destroyed by false statements, all the people, who might be affected, join forces and do their best to defend themselves. No further details about the legal strategy were revealed neither by the spokesman nor by Wynn’s lawyer though.
That’s not the first time when Wynn Resorts got involved in legal proceedings. Last year Wynn Resorts were accused by Kazuo Okada of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Japanese billionaire claimed that there is an underlying reason for the donation of $135 million, made to a Macau-based university. It is a well known fact that Wynn Resorts are a major gambling provider in the region. No further actions were taken towards the false Okada’s claim though.
Two years ago Wynn Resorts became the owner of the Okada’s shares, equal to 20% of the company and accused him of having paid considerable amounts of money to the Philippine authorities with the aim of establishing a new casino on the territory of the country.
The case of Wynn and Chanos will be investigated by the Californian District Court.
