Sexual assault reports against Steve Wynn filed with Las Vegas police
Image: AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two more sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn on Tuesday when police in Las Vegas revealed they recently received two reports from women saying the billionaire sexually assaulted them in the 1970s.
This was the first admission from police in Las Vegas about reports filed against Wynn since sexual misconduct allegations against him were revealed last month.
One woman reported Wynn assaulted her in Las Vegas and the other said she was assaulted in Chicago, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement. The Las Vegas case will not be investigated because the statute of limitations in Nevada is 20 years.
The victim of that alleged assault contacted the department from St. Louis on Jan. 29, three days after the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of women said Wynn harassed or assaulted them and that one case led to a $7.5 million settlement.
The other, filed in Las Vegas on Feb. 5, is being forwarded to the Chicago Police Department.
Details of exactly what transpired during the alleged assaults were not disclosed.
The billionaire has vehemently denied the allegations, which he attributes to a campaign led by his ex-wife.
“In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity,” Wynn said in the written statement that announced his resignation last week as chairman and CEO at Wynn Resorts.
“As I have reflected upon the environment this has created — one in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts — I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles.”
Wynn Resorts spokesman Michael Weaver on Tuesday said the company does not have a comment on the reports filed by the women “because this involved a company before the establishment of Wynn Resorts.”
Wynn is facing scrutiny by gambling regulators in Nevada and Massachusetts, where the company is building a roughly $2.4 billion casino just outside Boston. Regulators in Macau, the Chinese enclave where the company operates two casinos, are also inquiring about the allegations.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Monday set up an online form that allows people to report information on any of its active investigations. The reporting system was set up after the agency received numerous calls regarding the investigation against Wynn.
Wynn Resorts has also created a committee to investigate the allegations. On Monday, the group announced it was expanded its scope to review the company’s internal policies and procedures to ensure a “safe and respectful workplace for all employees.” NVG
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