After accepting the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer earlier this week amid claims of sexual misconduct, Wynn Resorts Limited has now reportedly been hit with the bad news that a judge has reversed an earlier ruling in its long-running legal battle with Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada.
According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, Monday saw Nevada Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzales overturn her own judgment from twelve weeks ago and allow a sealed document to be introduced into evidence that allegedly indicates several Wynn Resorts Limited directors had been intent on ousting Okada as a board member of the firm from as early as November of 2011.
Okada reportedly filed his action against Wynn Resorts Limited in 2012 over claims that the Las Vegas-based casino operator had unfairly ousted him as a director and illegally redeemed his almost 20% stake in the company because he began questioning?the management style of its former?Chief Executive Officer, Steve Wynn (pictured). But, Wynn Resorts Limited later purportedly countered by claiming that it only took its actions after the billionaire businessman had been accused of illegally bribing gaming officials in the Philippines in order to realize his $2 billion Okada Manila integrated casino resort.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the latest ruling is set to intensify attention on the past actions of Wynn Resorts Limited’s board of directors, which has faced weak corporate governance accusations along with criticism that it seldom opposed the wishes of Wynn, who was responsible for establishing the casino firm in 2002.
Wynn Resorts Limited, which operates numerous casinos in the United States and Macau including the Wynn Las Vegas and the?Wynn Macau, is reportedly moreover facing investigations by gaming officials in Nevada and Massachusetts concerning claims that Wynn had not properly disclosed a settlement worth around $7.5 million he is alleged to have paid to a former employee he purportedly pressured into having sex.