The city of Boston claims in its newest court filings that Wynn Resorts representatives were well-aware that a convicted felon would benefit from his stake in the land where the Las Vegas-based gambling operator is to build its Everett casino.
Boston and the Massachusetts Gambling Commission are currently locked in a legal battle over the regulator’s decision to grant Wynn Resorts the sole casino license for the Boston region.
According to the latest court filings, at least five people revealed in interviews with commission investigators that representatives for the casino giant were informed about Charles Lightbody holding a majority stake in the land prior to signing a deal for the 30-acre site where the Everett gaming facility is to be built. Under the state law, criminals are not allowed to profit from casinos.
Boston said that the latest findings are crucial to its case, as they indicate that the state Gaming Commission had neglected important issues while considering Wynn Resorts’ application.
Carlo DeMaria, Mayor of Everett, and Stephen Tocco, who had previously been Secretary of Economic Affairs for Massachusetts, and now runs ML Strategies, a consultancy firm, which has been working with Wynn Resorts, were among those interviewed by the state gambling regulator.
Last week, Boston filed a 25-page brief on the matter accompanied by more than 800 pages of different appendices, the interviews included. According to the court filings, Mr. Tocco claimed that Mayor DeMaria had been informed about Mr. Lightbody’s criminal record and the fact that he had owned the site where the Everett casino is to be located.
Michael Weaver, spokesperson for the casino operator, said that Wynn Resorts found out about Mr. Lightbody holding a majority stake in the land in question from the investigation carried out by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Boston officials claimed that commission investigators had not transcribed Mayor DeMaria and Mr. Tocco’s interviews, thus purposefully omitting those from the comprehensive report they had compiled on Wynn Resorts’ application for the construction of the $1.7-billion hotel and casino resort. In addition, those were not included in the commission’s court filings regarding the ongoing lawsuit.
Boston is not the only city that has been questioning the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s decision to award Wynn Resorts the Region A casino license. In separate lawsuits, Revere and Somerville argue that the regulator and the gambling operator have compromised the selection process for the Boston-area license.
In addition, the city of Boston claims that the commission “mischaracterized” key evidence related to Wynn Resorts’ knowledge of Mr. Lightbody’s involvement in the land deal.
