LAS VEGAS – Casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as chairman and CEO at Wynn Resorts amid sexual misconduct allegations.

Wynn Resorts says Tuesday the resignation is effective immediately.

The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 26 that a number of women said Wynn harassed or assaulted them and that one case led to a $7.5 million settlement.

The Las Vegas billionaire has vehemently denied the allegations, which he attributes to a campaign led by his ex-wife.

He also faces investigations by gambling regulators in two states.

READ MORE: Steve Wynn, casino mogul and Republican donor, denies dozens of sexual misconduct claims: report

The board of directors for Wynn Resorts has appointed Matt Maddox, currently president of the company, as its CEO effective immediately. </s> LAS VEGAS – Casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as chairman and CEO at Wynn Resorts amid sexual misconduct allegations.

Wynn Resorts says Tuesday the resignation is effective immediately.

“The Board of Directors of Wynn Resorts reluctantly announced today that it accepted the resignation of Steve Wynn as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors,” Wynn Resorts said in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 26 that a number of women said Wynn harassed or assaulted them and that one case led to a $7.5 million settlement.

The Las Vegas billionaire has vehemently denied the allegations, which he attributes to a campaign led by his ex-wife.

“In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity,” Wynn said in a separate statement. “As I have reflected upon the environment this has created — one in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts — I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles.”

He also faces investigations by gambling regulators in two states.

The board of directors for Wynn Resorts has appointed Matt Maddox, currently president of the company, as its CEO effective immediately. </s> US mogul Steve Wynn has resigned from his casino company Wynn Resorts, as the billionaire battles claims that he routinely subjected women who worked for him to unwanted sexual advances.

Wynn has denied the accusations published by the Wall Street Journal as “preposterous” and said they were instigated by his ex-wife to seek advantage in their divorce lawsuit.

He resigned as the finance chairman of the U.S. Republican Party’s fundraising arm, the Republican National Committee, in January.

“In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity…I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles,” Wynn said in a statement.

The company said it has appointed Matt Maddox, its president since 2013, as CEO and Boone Wayson as non-executive chairman effective immediately.

Maddox has also been a non-executive director of Wynn Macau Ltd, a majority owned subsidiary of the Las Vegas-based company. Until 2014, Maddox was also its chief financial officer, according to the company website.

Trade in shares in Wynn Macau were halted on Wednesday morning.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> Steve Wynn on Tuesday announced he would step down as CEO of Wynn Resorts.

The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 26 that a number of women said Wynn harassed or assaulted them and that one case led to a $7.5 million settlement.

The Las Vegas billionaire has vehemently denied the allegations, which he attributed to a campaign led by his ex-wife.

He also faces investigations by gambling regulators in two states. </s> Facing investigations by gambling regulators and allegations of sexual misconduct, billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn has stepped down as chairman and CEO of the resorts bearing his names.

The Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts in a statement said Wynn's resignation Tuesday was effective immediately. It came less than two weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of women said Wynn harassed or assaulted them and that one case led to a $7.5 million settlement.

"In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity," Wynn said in a written statement. "As I have reflected upon the environment this has created — one in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts — I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles."

Wynn has vehemently denied the report's allegations, which he attributes to a campaign led by his ex-wife. An attorney for Elaine Wynn has denied that she instigated the news report.

Wynn now faces investigations by gambling regulators in Nevada and Massachusetts, where the company is building a roughly $2.4 billion casino just outside Boston. The company earlier said a committee of independent directors would investigate the allegations that surfaced Jan. 26.

Shares of Wynn Resorts' China arm, Wynn Macau Ltd., were suspended from trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday in Asia. Gambling regulators in Macau, the world's biggest casino market, said they were officially notified about the resignation.

Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau also said in a statement that its director, Paulo Martins Chan, and the city's financial and economic secretary, Lionel Leong, met last week with Wynn Macau Executive Director Linda Chen to request a detailed explanation of the allegations and demand Wynn notify it of any "result, progress or important information" from the investigation within an unspecified time frame.

The company, which said previously it would cooperate with the regulator's requests, operates two casino-resorts in the Chinese enclave that generate about two-thirds of its total revenues.

A wave of sexual misconduct claims against prominent figures in entertainment, media and politics gained momentum last fall in the aftermath of articles detailing movie producer Harvey Weinstein's decades of alleged rape and harassment. But Wynn is the first CEO and founder of a major publicly held company to come under scrutiny since the Weinstein allegations surfaced.

Wynn is a titan in Sin City and played a major role in the revitalization of the Las Vegas Strip in the 1990s. He built the Bellagio, Treasure Island and Mirage before he sold his Mirage Resorts company in 2000. Two years later, he founded Wynn Resorts, which now operates two luxurious casino-resorts in the city and is in the process of building a lake and hotel development called Paradise Park on the site of a former golf course.

Wynn's two Macau casinos include the older Wynn Macau near the former Portuguese colony's historic old town, and the Wynn Palace, which in 2016 became the latest opulent resort to open in the new district of Cotai, joining lavish developments by rivals including Las Vegas Sands.

In announcing Wynn's resignation, the company's board of directors made clear it had done so "reluctantly."

"It is with a collective heavy heart, that the board of directors of Wynn Resorts today accepted the resignation of our founder, CEO and friend Steve Wynn," said Boone Wayson, who was named non-executive chairman of the board. Matt Maddox, the company's president since 2013, was named CEO effective immediately.

Details of Wynn's separation agreement were not immediately disclosed.

Wynn resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee a day after the allegations were published.

Since 2013, Wynn has contributed nearly $2.4 million to GOP candidates and party organizations around the country, including Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and 2017 special election winners. Some Republicans in Congress, including Nevada's Dean Heller, have already announced they are donating contributions they received from Wynn to charity.

Associated Press business writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report. </s> Steve Wynn has resigned as the CEO and chairman of the board of Wynn Resorts.

The Las Vegas mogul’s ouster comes one week after he was accused of a decades-long pattern of sexual harassment and abuse toward workers at his casinos, according to The Wall Street Journal. </s> Casino billionaire Steve Wynn has resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), a day after allegations of sexual harassment and assault emerged.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Mr Wynn routinely subjected women who worked for him to unwanted sexual advances in a pattern of misconduct detailed by dozens of employees.

Mr Wynn denied the claims as "preposterous" and accused his ex-wife Elaine of instigating the accusations as part of a "nasty lawsuit" seeking a revised divorce settlement.

"We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth, and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits," he added.

But in a statement released on Saturday night, Mr Wynn said he was resigning to avoid unnecessary distraction - and thanked President Trump for the job.

"The unbelievable success we have achieved must continue," he said. "The work we are doing to make America a better place is too important to be impaired by this distraction."

The 76-year-old founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts Ltd has been a prominent figure in the casino resort business in Las Vegas.

After previously seeking to appear nonpartisan, he threw his support behind Mr Trump during the 2016 election campaign and donated money to several Republican causes including the RNC.

Mr Trump called Mr Wynn a "great friend" after he won the Nevada caucus in February 2016, and Wynn was named finance chairman of the committee in January 2017 after Mr Trump became president.

US Representative Francis Rooney of Florida is being considered as a replacement, one Republican fundraiser said.

The board of directors of Wynn Resorts said it had met to form a special committee consisting solely of independent directors to investigate the allegations reported by the Wall Street Journal. </s> • Steve Wynn has resigned as CEO and chairman of Wynn Resorts.
• Wynn had admitted no wrongdoing and said in his resignation statement that there had been a "rush to judgment," which he said took precedence over everything "including facts" with regard to the misconduct allegations.
• Matt Madox is the new Wynn Resorts CEO.



The CEO and chairman of Wynn Resorts, Steve Wynn, has resigned.

The company, which owns and operates Wynn and Encore Las Vegas, Wynn Macau, and Wynn Palace, Cotai, made the announcement "reluctantly" on Tuesday night. The news came fewer than two weeks after allegations of decades of sexual misconduct were made against Wynn.

"It is with a collective heavy heart, that the board of directors of Wynn Resorts today accepted the resignation of our founder, CEO and friend Steve Wynn," the board's non-executive director, Boone Wayson, said in a statement.

"He is a philanthropist and a beloved leader and visionary. He played the pivotal role in transforming Las Vegas into the entertainment destination it is today."

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wynn had engaged in sexual misconduct for decades, regularly intimidating employees of his Las Vegas casinos into performing sex acts. Wynn responded by blaming the allegations on his ex-wife.

In announcing his resignation, Wynn did not admit to any of the alleged incidents, and instead said there had been a "rush to judgment" despite facts.

"In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity. As I have reflected upon the environment this has created — one in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts," Wynn said in a statement released Tuesday night.

"I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles. Therefore, effective immediately, I have decided to step down as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Wynn Resorts, a company I founded and that I love," he said.

Last month, Wynn also resigned as the Republican National Committee's finance chairman.

Earlier in his career, Wynn worked on some of Las Vegas' most iconic resorts including the Mirage, Treasure Island, and the Bellagio.

The board has appointed Matt Maddox, currently president of the company, as its new CEO. </s> Steve Wynn has stepped down as the CEO of Wynn Resorts after allegations of sexual misconduct piled pressure on the billionaire casino mogul and sent the company’s stock tumbling.

“It is with a collective heavy heart, that the board of directors of Wynn Resorts today accepted the resignation of our founder, CEO and friend Steve Wynn,” one of the directors, Boone Wayson, said in a company statement late Tuesday.

Wynn, 76, has denied the accusations of misconduct, which gained widespread attention in late January after an investigative report by The Wall Street Journal detailed numerous allegations against him, citing dozens of sources.

“In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity,” Wynn said in a statement. “As I have reflected upon the environment this has created — one in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts — I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles.”

Wynn Resorts said it has appointed Matt Maddox, who currently serves as the company’s president, as its new CEO effective immediately. Wayson will take over as chairman.

Losing Wynn is a heavy blow for the global gambling empire he built and that bears his name.

He said he was stepping down from “a company I founded and that I love.”

Analysts have expressed concern about how Wynn’s businesses in Las Vegas and the Chinese territory of Macau would operate without him at the helm.

“Mr. Wynn is the Wynn,” analysts at investment firm Bernstein wrote in a note to clients last month. “Without him, the Wynn Resorts … is a different operation.”

But the allegations against him made his position increasingly untenable.

He already resigned as finance chairman for the Republican National Committee shortly after the Journal story came out. And the Wynn Resorts board formed a special committee to investigate the allegations.

The accusations against him have also drawn scrutiny from gambling regulators in Nevada, Massachusetts and Macau.

The Chinese territory is particularly significant for Wynn Resorts, accounting for the large majority of its revenue and profits.

Investors have become increasingly concerned about the situation, driving down the company’s stock.
In the United States, billionaire Steve Wynn, best known for his casino hotels and resorts, resigns as CEO of Wynn Resorts following sexual harassment reports, including a $7.5 million settlement with a former worker at his Las Vegas resort.