As part of its ongoing investigation into allegations against of Steve Wynn (pictured), the Massachusetts Gaming Commission has reportedly determined that a $2 million donation the former Wynn Resorts Limited boss authorized to the Republican Governors Association in 2014 had not been improper.
According to a Thursday report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, the contribution had been made in the same year that Republican candidate Charlie Baker unexpectedly won the race to become the eastern state’s 72nd governor and Wynn Resorts Limited received a license to build its $2.4 billion Wynn Boston Harbor Resort integrated casino resort near Boston.
The newspaper reported that Massachusetts law precludes all applicants for a casino license from making local or state donations and that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission investigation had been initiated following calls from a trio of Democrats encompassing Setti Warren, Bob Massie and Jay Gonzalez hoping to run against Baker later this year.
However, Loretta Lillios, Chief Enforcement Counsel for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, reportedly found that the funds in question had been transferred only after Wynn Resorts Limited had received its license, which meant that the Las Vegas-headquartered firm had been a casino ‘licensee’ rather than an ‘applicant’.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is continuing to investigate Wynn Resorts Limited’s ‘suitability and integrity’ to operate the Wynn Boston Harbor Resort, which is expected to open for business in June of 2019, after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against 76-year-old Wynn. The claims first revealed via a January 27 story from The Wall Street Journal included that the Las Vegas-based billionaire secretly paid a settlement worth approximately $7.5 million to one worker he may have pressured into having sex.
Although Wynn has continually denied all of the allegations levied against him, he did stand down as Chief Executive Officer for Wynn Resorts Limited earlier this month while late-January saw him resign his post as Finance Chairman for the Republican National Committee.