Dozens of people have reportedly come forward to accuse billionaire casino magnate Steve Wynn of decades of sexual assault and misconduct, often focused on low-level employees who felt they had no power to fight back.Wynn, who's worth $3.3 billion, according to Forbes, is also known for his immense wealth and power — in recent years, he’s donated millions to Republican groups, and once, after accidentally destroying a $40 million Picasso, laughed it off saying it wasn’t a big deal because it only “took Picasso five hours to paint it.”But according to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story Friday morning after speaking to more than 150 sources, Wynn also used his wealth and power to assault or pressure low-level employees like spa workers into performing sexual acts on him. Former employees, who asked to remain anonymous because of Wynn’s significant stature, say they would often enter fake appointments or send along assistants when Wynn requested massages or manicures in an effort to protect the women. “They told of female employees hiding in the bathroom or backrooms when they learned he was on the way to the salon,” the paper reported.Employees said Wynn, now 75, would routinely walk around wearing short shorts with no underwear and sit for pedicures in a way that would expose his genitals to the manicurists.One woman told the Journal when she was working in Wynn’s office, he “repeatedly rubbed his genitals, which were falling out of his shorts, and made comments about things he would like to do with her sexually.” Another time, she said, he “grabbed her waist as she stood against a wall and told her to kiss him,” but she was able to escape.In 2005, Wynn paid one female manicurist a $7.5 million settlement, the Journal reports, after demanding she disrobe and lie naked on a massage table in his office. She protested, according to the report, saying she was married and didn’t want to have sex, but Wynn pressured her into it anyway. Her account was supported by colleagues who witnessed her “distressed” and “sobbing” after the encounter, and her supervisor told the Journal she filed a “detailed report” to the Wynn Las Vegas human resources department.The settlement reportedly came to light as part of a legal battle between Wynn and his now-ex wife, Elaine Wynn, over restrictions on her $1.9 billion stake in his empire. In a statement, Steve Wynn denied the allegations, appearing to accuse his ex-wife of fabricating them.“The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous,” Wynn said in a written statement to the Wall Street Journal. “The instigation of these accusations is the continued work of my ex-wife Elaine Wynn, with whom I am involved in a terrible and nasty lawsuit in which she is seeking a revised divorce settlement.”But it’s not the first time Wynn’s alleged behavior was referenced in court filings — according to the Journal, an executive who worked under Wynn when Wynn was running the Golden Nugget casino testified in a deposition that he had “routinely received complaints from various department heads regarding Wynn’s chronic sexual harassment of female employees.” The executive, Dennis Gomes, also said Wynn would ask him for the home phone numbers of female employees working as cocktail waitresses.Nor is the manicurist the only woman directly accusing Wynn of predatory behavior. Another former massage therapist at Wynn Las Vegas, who also asked to remain anonymous, told the Journal that he began removing the towel covering his genitals during massages and eventually instructed her to masturbate him to climax. She told the paper it became “a frequent part of the massage sessions for several months,” until he asked her to perform oral sex on him, which she refused. He stopped requesting her after she expressed her discomfort, she said.But despite his denials, the allegations have already taken a toll on Wynn’s business — according to CNN, shares of Wynn’s resorts plunged more than 10 percent after the Journal story broke.
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