LAS VEGAS (AP) — Casino company Wynn Resorts has agreed to pay $130 million to federal authorities, admitting that it allowed unauthorized money transmitters around the world to funnel funds to gamblers at its flagship Las Vegas Strip properties.
The publicly traded company said the non-prosecution settlement reached on Friday represents an amount identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as “funds involved in the transactions at issue” at the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
In statements to the media and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the forfeitures were not penalties and that findings in the decade-long case did not amount to money laundering.
Tara McGrath, the U.S. attorney in San Diego, said the settlement shows casinos will be held accountable if they allow foreign patrons to evade U.S. laws. She said she believes the $130 million is the largest ever forfeiture by a casino “based on an admission of criminal conduct.”
Wynn Resorts said it had severed ties with all people and companies involved in what the government described as “complex overseas dealings.”
“Several former employees facilitated the use of unlicensed money transmitters, which violated both our internal policies and the law and for which we hold ourselves accountable,” the company said in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday.
In a news release, the Department of Justice detailed several methods allegedly used to transfer funds between Wynn Las Vegas and people in China and other countries.
In one case known as “flying money,” unauthorized financial agents used multiple foreign bank accounts to transfer money to casinos to be used by customers who could not access cash in the United States.
The other involved people known as “human heads” gambling in casinos at the direction of people who were unwilling or unable to gamble due to anti-money laundering and other laws.
The Justice Department said one individual acting as an independent agent for the casino made more than 200 transfers worth approximately $18 million on behalf of more than 50 foreign casino patrons through bank accounts controlled by Wynn Las Vegas or related entities.
Wynn Resorts called the settlement with the government the culmination of a six-year effort to “put past issues behind us and focus on the future.” The investigation began around 2014, according to SEC filings.
The company did not name former CEO Steve Wynn, but the parent company has been embroiled in legal troubles surrounding Wynn’s departure since 2018, when The Wall Street Journal first reported allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
The story continues
Lawyers for Wynn in Las Vegas did not respond to messages Saturday about the company’s settlement.
Wynn, 82, who now lives in Florida, has said he is no longer involved with the company that bears his name. He has always denied any allegations of sexual misconduct.
The billionaire developer, whose luxury casino empire spans Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Mississippi and China’s gambling hub, Macau, resigned from Wynn Resorts, sold his shares in the company and stepped down from the board of directors after the reports became public.
Last year, he agreed to sever ties with the industry he helped shape in Las Vegas and pay a $10 million fine in a settlement with Nevada gambling regulators. He has not admitted to any wrongdoing.
In 2019, the Nevada Gaming Commission fined Wynn Resorts a record $20 million for failing to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against him before he resigned. Massachusetts gaming regulators fined the company and its chief executive officer $35.5 million for failing to disclose sexual misconduct allegations against Wynn while applying for a license for the Encore Boston Harbor Resort. The company has not admitted to any wrongdoing.
In November 2019, Wynn Resorts agreed to receive $20 million from Wynn and $21 million from its insurers to settle a shareholder lawsuit that alleged directors failed to disclose suspected misconduct.
The Justice Department announced Friday that as part of the investigation, 15 people previously pleaded guilty to crimes including money laundering and unauthorized transfers and paid more than $7.5 million in criminal fines.
Wynn Resorts said in a statement Friday that its non-prosecution agreement with the government did not address money laundering.
