24-05-2025
$5.5 million Wynn fine OK'd; ‘confidential' Fontainebleau investigation revealed
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — On a day when the Nevada Gaming Commission fined a Las Vegas Strip resort $5.5 million, events that played out a decade ago continued to bring repercussions in the casino business.
Wynn Las Vegas LLC agreed to the fine, approved on a 4-1 vote Thursday. That came less than a year after Wynn forfeited $130.1 million to the U.S. Department of Justice in the investigation of improper money transfers — hundreds of transactions in 2014.
For Nevada gaming regulators, Wynn's nonprosecution agreement with the feds wasn't enough to let the company's missteps slide. The reputation of Nevada's casinos was too important. The Nevada Gaming Control Board performed its own investigation and hammered Wynn again.
The amount of the fine was a point of contention as Commissioner Rosa Solis-Rainey voted no, believing the fine was just too low. Wynn's lawyers said the fine was on par with other fines issued in 2014, when the violations occurred.
Steve Wynn agrees to $10 million fine, end to any ties with Nevada gaming industry
And the timing couldn't have been worse for an executive who was up for licensing as a key employee just before the commission levied the $5.5 million fine.
Maurice Wooden, president of Fontainebleau Las Vegas, was president at Wynn Las Vegas from 2005 to the end of 2018. The hearing to approve his permanent license took a sharp turn when a new investigation was inadvertently revealed as commissioners questioned Wooden.
Apparently unknown to Wooden, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has an active investigation into Fontainebleau affairs, according to testimony at Thursday's meeting.
'This is currently under investigation and is therefore confidential by law,' NGCB Executive Director and Chairman Kirk Hendrick told commissioners after Solis-Rainey referred to the investigation in a question directed to Wooden.
'So I don't want to go any deeper into this matter until the board has an opportunity to review it and, of course, speak with the licensee,' Hendrick said.
Solis-Rainey was asking questions related to a Fontainebleau audit, and had asked Wooden for more information about the investigation, which was referenced in materials given to commissioners.
Wooden said he didn't have the answers Solis-Rainey sought, and his attorney, Dan Reaser said, 'With regard to the investigation of Mr. Wooden's key employee application, this issue was never raised. So the ability to respond to it was eliminated until today.'
Hendrick said, 'It probably should have been marked 'confidential' or 'under investigation.' ' That might have headed off the confusion and the public revelation of an active investigation.
Commissioners tried to direct the hearing to get it back on track, but the damage was done.
Wooden was asked about his role in transactions identified in the audit as questionable. They involved credit approvals for high-end customers that were ultimately approved by others. They were referred to as 'ownership approvals,' referring to a level of authority to issue credit.
'Mr. Wooden followed procedure, and somebody overrode him following procedure,' Reaser told the commission.
Solis-Rainey pressed Wooden on another point: his tenure at Wynn Las Vegas, and what he did or didn't do to press an investigation into Steve Wynn's actions. The company paid a record $20 million fine in 2019 for failing to properly investigate sexual harassment allegations against former CEO Steve Wynn.
Wooden said he was aware of one complaint from a masseuse in Wynn's spa. The female employee said Steve Wynn repeatedly removed or made a towel drop to the floor during their session. Wooden said he reported that complaint to the proper channels, but Solis-Rainey didn't think that was enough.
Commission Chair Jennifer Togliatti put a point on it: 'If he (Wooden) hadn't been the president of the Wynn, when all of those things were happening in our discipline later today, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.'
Instead of issuing a permanent license for Wooden, commissioners gave him a limited license that will be up for review in two years.
Commissioners made a number of remarks about the 'old' Wynn and the 'new' Wynn, noting that changes in the company's leadership had brought necessary changes to policies and leadership. Togliatti said the old Wynn was causing today's company to bleed money.
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