steve wynn
Wynn Resorts will be paying an unspecified amount to the Nevada Gaming Control Board after they investigated Steve Wynn for the sexual assault claims filed against him by multiple women which were overlooked by the executives. This image shows Steve Wynn at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept. 30, 2014. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Executives from Wynn Resorts admitted they knew of the sexual misconduct allegations against it's founder and former CEO Steve Wynn and that they failed to investigate or report any of the claims.

The company made a settlement with the Nevada Gaming Control Board to pay an unspecified amount as fine and agreed to a commitment by the regulators to not investigate or take actions against the company’s gaming license or even current executives. However, the Nevada Gaming Commission is yet to formally approve the settlement and fine. According to the settlement that Wynn Resorts will be signing, the former CEO admitted to almost all the allegations that the board made with the exception of three specific allegations of executive knowledge.

The investigation began in Jan. 2018 after the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of women reported they were harassed or assaulted by Wynn. According to the report, in 2005, a manicurist for the resort’s salon alleged she was raped and impregnated by Wynn. The salon management reported this to human resources and yet four former executives failed to take action against Wynn, who later made a $7.5 million settlement with the woman. It also reported that Wynn pressured a cocktail waitress into a nonconsensual sexual relationship between 2005 and 2006 which later resulted in him paying a private settlement of $975,000 to the woman.

After the allegations came to light in 2018, shares of Wynn Resorts fell over 10 percent which meant the company saw its market drop to over $2 billion. As the largest shareholder in the Wynn Resorts with a 12 percent stake, Wynn saw nearly $250 million shed in his net worth. The report almost immediately sent Wynn resorts plunging 6 percent and closing down over 10 percent at $180.29. At the time of his resignation as the CEO of Wynn Resorts in Feb. 2018, he ranked 271 on the Forbes 400 and 679 on the Billionaires 2018. Steve Wynn’s current net worth is $3 billion.

Wynn Resorts issued a statement describing the end of the Nevada investigation as an important remedial step and that every employee identified by the Nevada Gaming Board as failing to investigate or report the allegations was no longer a part of the company.

“We have undergone an extensive self-examination over the last 12 months, intended to reinvigorate and implement meaningful change across all levels of the organization, cultivate a safe, healthy and supportive workplace culture, and build on our core values of respecting our employees, corporate responsibility and citizenship, and service of the community,” the statement said.

Soon after the report, the Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a complaint against top executives at the company. These included former president Marc Shore, former vice president of operations Doreen Whennen and former senior vice president and chief human resources officer Arte Nathan.

In the complaint, it was alleged that all these executives were aware of the manicurist’s rape allegation and failed to investigate it. The investigation also found out that the former Wynn general counsel Kimmarie Sinatra knew of this settlement by January 2012 and was aware of the rape allegations by July 2017 and still failed to conduct an investigation or report the incident.

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