Wynn Resorts Executives Covered Up Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Steve Wynn: Report

Executives at Wynn Resorts covered up several years of sexual misconduct allegations against casino magnate Steve Wynn, a report from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission says.

According to CNN,

The report, released this week as part of ongoing hearings before state gaming regulators, said the company fostered a culture of secrecy in which victims of sexual misconduct and harassment became afraid to pursue complaints or believed doing so to be pointless. The gaming commission must decide whether the company is still suitable for a state casino license.

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The state gaming commission report said substantive reforms at the company — including Wynn’s departure and that of other ranking officials accused of failing to report the alleged misconduct — “do not erase the fact that the corporate failures … are significant, repetitive, and reflective of the Company’s historical government practices.”

Wynn stepped down in February following a Wall Street Journal report detailing dozens of accusations made against him. In one instance, a Wynn hotel manicurist allegedly reported to HR in 2005 that he ordered her to lie down on a massage table and raped her. Sources told the Journal that she was paid a $7.5 million settlement.

Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said in a statement on Tuesday that “there were many victims—and those victims felt powerless.”

“For that I am deeply remorseful. They felt that they didn’t have a voice,” he said. “That if they were to speak up they could be retaliated against. Or if they did, it would not be investigated. For that I am truly sorry.”

Still, Maddox said he knew about the Journal story a few weeks before it was printed, and said he initially believed Wynn’s explanation that the accusations against him were invented to hurt the company in litigation.