REGULATORS MAY EYE MOGUL
Wynn won’t get $$, but will keep stake in company
Toppled casino mogul Steve Wynn won’t receive any severance after he resigned from his hotel company amid sexual harassment allegations, but has no plans to sell his personal stake in the company — a decision that could leave him and the company open to scrutiny from Bay State gaming regulators.
“Mr. Wynn is not entitled to any severance payment or other compensation from the Company under the employment agreement,”
Wynn resorts said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.
Under the agreement, Wynn will keep his health insurance through the end of the year and move out of his residence in the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas by June 1, according to a separation agreement. Wynn could have been entitled to up to $330 million in severance, according to reports.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported on allegations of decades of sexual harassment and misconduct by Wynn, including a $7.5 million payment allegedly made to a former manicurist after a sexual encounter.
Wynn also cannot sell more than one third of his current shares of the company in each quarter under the agreement. Wynn owns roughly 12 percent of Wynn Resorts and said last week in another SEC filing that he has no plans to sell his stake.
Under Massachusetts casino law, anyone with more than a 5 percent stake in a casino company licensed by the state must be found suitable by the state’s gaming commission. It is unclear whether the commission could or would ask that Wynn sell his shares as a condition of Wynn Resorts’ license.
Commission members could also decide there is a large enough firewall between Wynn and Wynn Resorts to prevent him from influencing company deci- sions.
Boston College economics professor Richard McGowan speculated that “what they’re probably going to say is, ‘Steve, don’t go near this property.’ ”
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission said last week that its investigation into Wynn would continue, despite his resignation. Part of that investigation, executive director Ed Bedrosian said at the time, would include the terms of Wynn’s departure.
A gaming commission spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday on the specific terms of Wynn’s resignation, but said the probe into both the allegations against Wynn and his company’s response are ongoing, along with the impact of the separation agreement — which seems to have opened the door to the global casino company changing its name.
In the agreement, the company says it will inform Wynn if it decides to no longer use his name. The Wynn Resorts logo is Wynn’s signature.