Casino mogul resigns from Republican finance post

WASHINGTON - Las Vegas casino billionaire Steve Wynn stepped down on Saturday as Republican National Committee finance chairman, following allegations of decades of sexual misconduct.

The 76-year-old former business rival turned political ally of President Donald Trump had assumed the RNC position after Trump took office last year.

Wynn has denied the allegations, first published in The Wall Street Journal on Friday, and accused his ex-wife Elaine of instigating the accusations as part of a "terrible and nasty lawsuit" seeking a revised divorce settlement.

"Today, I accepted Steve Wynn's resignation as Republican National Committee finance chair," RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel said in a statement to US media on Saturday.

Politico said McDaniel had discussed Wynn's case with Trump early on Saturday. The president returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, late on Friday.

The allegations include a married manicurist who said Wynn forced her to have sex shortly after he opened his flagship Wynn Las Vegas in 2005, and whom he later paid a $7.5 million settlement, the Journal reported.

"The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous," Wynn said in a statement.

"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 multiyear lawsuits."

Former employees said their awareness of Wynn's power, combined with the knowledge that they had some of the best-paying jobs in Las Vegas added up to a feeling of dependence and intimidation when he made requests, the Journal reported.

Wynn Resorts, which employs 23,000 people around the world, also lashed out at Elaine Wynn and said not one complaint had been made about Wynn on a company hotline.

The Journal contacted more than 150 people who work or had worked for Wynn in its reporting.

It was the first time that the US sexual harassment watershed has centered on the CEO and founder of a major publicly held company - whose shares tumbled 7.8 percent following the report's publication.

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(China Daily 01/29/2018 page11)