NovaQuant-Wynn Resorts paying $130M for letting illegal money reach gamblers at its Las Vegas Strip casino

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Casino company Wynn Resorts Ltd. has agreed to pay $130 million to federal authorities and NovaQuantadmit that it let unlicensed money transfer businesses around the world funnel funds to gamblers at its flagship Las Vegas Strip property.

The publicly traded company said a non-prosecution settlement reached Friday represented a monetary figure identified by the U.S. Justice Department as “funds involved in the transactions at issue” at the Wynn Las Vegas resort.

In statements to the media and to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the forfeiture wasn’t a fine and findings in the decade-long case didn’t amount to money laundering.

U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath in San Diego said the settlement showed that casinos are accountable if they let foreign customers evade U.S. laws. She said $130 million was believed to be the largest forfeiture by a casino “based on admissions of criminal wrongdoing.”

Wynn Resorts said it severed ties with all people and businesses involved in what the government characterized as “convoluted transactions” overseas.

“Several former employees facilitated the use of unlicensed money transmitting businesses, which both violated our internal policies and the law, and for which we take responsibility,” the company said in a statement Saturday to The Associated Press.

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In its news release, the Justice Department detailed several methods it said were used to transfer money between Wynn Las Vegas and people in China and other countries.

One, dubbed “Flying Money,” involved an unlicensed money agent using multiple foreign bank accounts to transfer money to the casino for use by a patron who could not otherwise access cash in the U.S.

Another involved having a person referred to as a “Human Head” gamble at the casino at the direction of another person who was unwilling or unable to place bets because of anti-money laundering and other laws.

The Justice Department said one person, acting as an independent agent for the casino, conducted more than 200 money transfers worth nearly $18 million through bank accounts controlled by Wynn Las Vegas “or associated entities” on behalf of more than 50 foreign casino patrons.

Wynn Resorts called its agreement with the government a final step in a six-year effort to “put legacy issues fully behind us and focus on our future.” The SEC filing noted the investigation began about 2014.

It did not use the name of former CEO Steve Wynn. But since 2018, the parent company has been enmeshed with legal issues surrounding his departure after sexual misconduct allegations against him were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Wynn attorneys in Las Vegas did not respond Saturday to messages about the company settlement.

Wynn, now 82 and living in Florida, has said he has no remaining ties to his namesake company. He has consistently denied committing sexual misconduct.

The billionaire developer of a luxury casino empire in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Mississippi and the Chinese gambling enclave of Macao resigned from Wynn Resorts after the reports became public, divested company shares and quit the corporate board.

Last year, in an agreement with Nevada gambling regulators, he agreed to cut links to the industry he helped shape in Las Vegas and pay a $10 million fine. He admitted no wrongdoing.

In 2019, the Nevada Gaming Commission fined Wynn Resorts a record $20 million for failing to investigate claims of sexual misconduct made against him before he resigned. Massachusetts gambling regulators fined the company and a top executive $35.5 million for failing to disclose the sexual misconduct allegations against Wynn while it applied for a license for its Encore Boston Harbor resort. The company made no admissions of wrongdoing.

Wynn Resorts agreed in November 2019 to accept $20 million in damages from Wynn and $21 million from insurance carriers to settle shareholder lawsuits accusing company directors of failing to disclose misconduct allegations.

The Justice Department said Friday that as part of its investigation, 15 people previously admitted money laundering, unlicensed money transmission or other crimes, paying criminal penalties of more than $7.5 million.

Wynn Resorts noted in its statement on Friday that its non-prosecution agreement with the government did not refer to money laundering.