WYNN CASINO BOMBSHELL
Suffolk Downs owners’ lawsuit alleges kickbacks, seeks $3 billion in damages
Explosive new allegations filed by Sterling Suffolk Racecourse in the federal case against Wynn Resorts come as the Las Vegas casino company is still reeling from a sexual abuse probe into its former CEO Steve Wynn that jeopardizes its future in the Bay State.
Amended complaints in the ongoing lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Boston allege that Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria purportedly received kickbacks as a result of disputed land acquisition agreements and that hidden deals with land developers tainted the casino application process.
“By fraud, kickbacks, political cronyism crossing the line of legality and other unlawful methods, the Defendants conspired to fix the application process …,” the lawsuit states.
“The Defendants herein conspired to, and did in fact, circumvent the safeguards and protections that the Gaming Act was intended to provide,” the complaint continues to allege.
The suit, originally filed in September, seeks $3 billion in damages.
Brian Kelly, Steve Wynn’s attorney, slammed the attack as “more nonsense from a disgruntled competitor which we will file a response to soon.”
Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer of Sterling Suffolk Racecourse (SSR), declined to comment but referred back to the text of the lawsuit.
Wynn Resorts also declined to comment on the matter. Neither DeMaria nor his office responded to repeated requests for comment. A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission had “no comment.”
Wynn Resorts’ $2.5 billion Encore Boston Harbor gambling mecca is set to open in Everett in late June, but the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is still reviewing the application while a sexual abuse case against Steve Wynn in Nevada has temporarily stalled the commission’s findings.
As previously reported in the Herald, Gaming Commission chairman Steve Crosby resigned in September.
Boston College casino expert Richard McGowan echoed Kelly, saying Tuttle is “grasping at straws” by trying to further delay the licensing process for Encore Boston Harbor.
“It seems like it’s a lastditch effort. This land has been disputed over and over again,” said McGowan, adding that the Gaming Commission investigated the land acquisition deals already.
“I think what he’s (Tuttle) trying to do is hold the thing up and hoping that someone from the Gaming Commission would even take a separate look at the charges against Wynn,” said McGowan.
Wynn was accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with female casino employees.
Casino analyst Clyde Barrow was taken aback by the new claims in the lawsuit and especially doubted that DeMaria took kickbacks.
“That seems like a pretty explosive allegation to make if you don’t have evidence to back it up,” said Barrow.
He said the new complaints won’t have much effect on the licensing timeline with the Gaming Commission, “I don’t think any of this is going to derail whatever ruling they’ve already decided to make on that case. They’ve conducted their investigation.”
Celeste Myers, who led the “No Eastie Casino” push, said: “At the end of the day it’s up to the Gaming Commission to snuff all of this out.”
Wynn Resorts filed a motion to dismiss, calling the suit frivolous.