Steve Wynn speaks to reporters about a planned casino in Everett during a press conference in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
Steve Wynn speaks to reporters about a planned casino in Everett during a press conference in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
He's the casino tycoon who spent most of his life at the top. Rolling in billions of dollars of cash — his net worth is US$3.6 billion — luxury suites and hobnobbing with the political elite, this guy had it all.
Steve Wynn is a "towering figure in Las Vegas and the wider gambling industry," according to the Wall Street Journal. His iconic resorts feature artificial volcanoes and dancing fountains.
He is responsible for some of the most popular tourist hot spots on the Vegas strip: the Mirage, Treasure Island and the Bellagio. Even US President Donald Trump described him as a "great friend" last year.
His company is currently building a $2.4 billion casino in Boston. Guests at his $4.1 billion Wynn Palace in Macau ride air-conditioned gondolas nine metres over an artificial lake to the front door.
On the outside, everything looked legit. But on the inside, "female employees hid in the bathroom or back rooms when they learned he was on the way to the salon", the WSJ reports.
Behind the glitz and the glamour, behind the facade, lay a 76-year-old man with a dark history of sexual misconduct. Of intimidation. Of German shepherds who only respond to calls in German. Of too much power and influence.
Today, all that changed.
Wynn and wife Andrea Hissom attend the Broad Museum black tie inaugural dinner in 2015. Photo / Getty Images
The Las Vegas legend resigned as chairman and chief executive of his company Wynn Resorts — which specialises in high end resorts and casinos — after a WSJ investigation uncovered decades of alleged sexual harassment.
The allegations were hair-raising; female employees harassed and pressured into sex, forced to masturbate or massage him. Among the most shocking was the allegation he pressured a grandma working in one of his casinos into having sex because he "never had a grandmother before" and wanted "to see how it feels".
"I did it willingly, because I felt like I had to," the unnamed granny told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I didn't really want to. I was afraid for my job."
In 2005, an incident with a manicurist in his newly opened flagship Wynn Las Vegas cost him US$7.5 million after a settlement in which he was alleged to have "pressured her to take her clothes off and told her to lie on the massage table he kept in his office suite".
"The story was based on documents that were part of a federal lawsuit brought by 11 Mirage waitresses who claimed Wynn told servers they did not look good in their uniforms," the Review-Journal reported.
"A Mirage policy required the women to lose weight if they had gained more than 6 pounds (2.6kg) since they were hired."
Jorgen Nielsen, a former artistic director at the salon, told the WSJ: "Everybody was petrified. Nobody was there to help us."
Another massage therapist alleged Wynn "instructed her to massage his penis to climax", the WSJ reported. "The woman said that because he was her boss, she felt she had no choice but to agree to some of Mr Wynn's requests, including that one. She said masturbating him became a frequent part of the massage sessions for several months.
"At the end of each hour-long massage session, she said, he handed her $1000 in cash, which was the same amount as before the sexual activity began."
Wynn with Conor McGregor and actor Orlando Bloom appear at Andrea's restaurant last year. Photo / Getty Images
Wynn has denied the allegations, describing them as "preposterous". He has blamed his ex-wife, claiming she is the origin of the allegations.
"In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity," he said in a statement.
"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.
"Therefore, effective immediately, I have decided to step down as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Wynn Resorts, a company I founded and that I love.
"The Wynn Resorts team and I have built houses of brick. Which is to say, the institution we created — a collection of the finest designers and architects ever assembled, as well as an operating philosophy now ingrained in the minds and hearts of our entire team — will remain standing for the long term.
"I am extremely proud of everything we have built at this company. Most of all, I am proud of our employees."
Despite this, the fallout continues. The University of Pennsylvania has already revoked his honorary degree and removed his name from a scholarship. It did the same with comedian Bill Cosby, who also faces sexual misconduct allegations.
The company's stock has been sent tumbling, its shares dropping by 19 per cent since the allegations were made public, according to Bloomberg.
