Steve Wynn Pays $20 Million Toward Settlement of Suits Against Company

(Bloomberg) -- Casino mogul Steve Wynn agreed to pay $20 million toward a settlement of shareholder lawsuits that claimed Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s board had been complicit in his alleged sexual misconduct.

The former chief executive officer stepped down from the company in February 2018 and sold his shares after he was accused by multiple employees of forcing them to have sex. Steve Wynn claimed the sex was consensual.

Under the settlement, Wynn Resorts will get a total of $41 million with insurance carriers picking up the remaining $21 million, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Wynn Resorts agreed to make changes in its corporate governance as part of the settlement, including separating the role of the chairman and the chief executive, according to the statement.

New York State Comptoller Thomas DiNapoli filed a derivative lawsuit last year that accused the board of not doing anything to stop Steve Wynn’s alleged misconduct. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the company against the board. A Nevada state judge combined the New York lawsuit with similar complaints filed by other pension funds and appointed the comptroller as the lead plaintiff.

Neither the company nor its current or former directors and officers were found to have committed any wrongdoing in connection with the settlement, which is subject to court approval, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Peter Blumberg

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