Casino tycoon Steve Wynn defeats US lawsuit over Chinese agent claims
- The magnate cannot be forced to register as a foreign agent of China, as any relationship between him and the Beijing government ended in 2017, a US judge ruled
- Officials had accused Wynn of lobbying then-president Trump on China’s behalf, which the tycoon denies
Casino magnate Steve Wynn cannot be ordered to register with the US Department of Justice as a foreign agent of China, a federal judge in Washington said on Wednesday.
The Justice Department in May sued for a court order forcing Wynn, the former CEO of Wynn Casinos, to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Officials alleged that Wynn lobbied then US President Donald Trump on China’s behalf in 2017. Wynn’s lawyers denied that he was ever an agent of the Chinese government.
US District Judge James Boasberg said on Wednesday that, because any relationship between Wynn and the Chinese government ended in 2017, the Republican donor cannot be required to register as an agent. The judge pointed to past precedent in DC federal court in making the ruling.
The judge said he was not determining whether Wynn had lobbied on China’s behalf. He also said the Justice Department could pursue criminal sanctions against Wynn for failing to disclose the alleged lobbying, if the statute of limitations had not expired.
“We are delighted that the District Court today dismissed the government’s ill-conceived lawsuit against Steve Wynn,” his lawyers, Reid Weingarten and Robert Luskin, said in a statement. “Mr Wynn never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and never lobbied on its behalf.”
Wynn resigned in 2018 as chairman and CEO of the casino and resorts company bearing his name, after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct.
Wynn Macau paints dire picture after first-half loss widens to US$459 million
The complaint alleged that Wynn lobbied Trump and members of his administration for several months to expel from the United States a Chinese citizen who had been charged with corruption in China and was seeking political asylum in America. Efforts to send the man back to China were ultimately unsuccessful.
According to the complaint, the lobbying effort was conducted on behalf of senior Chinese government officials, including Sun Lijun, the then vice-minister of the Ministry of Public Security who sought Wynn’s help in trying to get the Chinese man’s new US visa application denied.
The lobbying effort also included conversations over dinner with Trump and by telephone, and multiple visits to the White House by Wynn for apparently unscheduled meetings with the issue was discussed.
The complaint said Wynn was motivated to protect his business interests in China. At the time, his company owned and operated casinos in the Chinese territory of Macau.
The government in Macau had restricted the number of gaming tables and machines that could be operated at Wynn’s casino, the Justice Department said, and he was expected to renegotiate licences to operate casinos in 2019.
Reuters and Associated Press
