After a lower court refused to grant Elaine Wynn protection under whistle-blower statutes, the former wife of Steve Wynn and co-founder of Wynn Resorts is asking the Nevada Supreme Court to intervene. Ms. Wynn is seeking protection from perceived potential retaliations a Las Vegas trial court was unable to ascertain.
At the core of the matter is Ms. Wynn’s desire to jettison certain restraints on her ability to sell all or part of here estimated $900 million share stake in the company that she was awarded in the couple’s divorce. Ms. Wynn contends that she made certain undisclosed statements to Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s audit committee and outside auditor Ernst & Young, in regard to potential securities law violations, according to a Bloomberg report.
Wynn Resorts had earlier forced former business partner, Kazuo Okada to redeem a 20% stake in the company after allegations of misconduct. Ms. Wynn filed a separate claim stating that she should not be held to the original agreement which requires Mr. Wynn’s approval to offload her shares.
Ms. Wynn failed to win re-election to the board of directors last year and in March 2016 filed suit to gain control of her shares.
Ms. Wynn wrote to the audit committee and outside auditor in July, “raising questions about the conduct of Wynn Resorts and its management that she reasonably believed violated federal securities laws.”
Court documents do not identify the violations she contends may have occurred.
Michael Weaver, a spokesman for Wynn Resorts said, “Our company takes its obligations under all federal laws very seriously and is frustrated when those laws and valid protections are twisted and used to pursue a personal agenda,” according to the Bloomberg report.
Ms. Wynn is reportedly alleged by the company to have violated a court order by disclosing information she obtained in pretrial exchanges and the company wants to know where she got other potentially privileged information that she shared with company auditors.