Claims that casino developer Steve Wynn sexually harassed employees could have surfaced years ago, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 1998 stopped publication of a story that would have brought the issue to light. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Then reporter Carri Geer, who now works as the Review-Journal’s metro editor, explained that she had accounts of Wynn’s sexual misconduct from two servers who worked at his casino. He attempted to pressure the women into having sex with him via repeated harassment or attempted coercion. The servers stories weren’t just rumors—they were also part of a suit against Wynn’s casino and resort. (Mediaite)
At the time of her reporting, Geer said, the paper’s then-publisher, Sherman Frederick, recommended both women accusing Wynn of misconduct undergo lie-detector tests that the paper would pay for. The women completed the tests, with the results suggesting one was being deceptive and the other was being truthful, the Review-Journal wrote. Geer said she was then called into a meeting with Wynn’s lawyers in Frederick’s conference room and later ordered to delete her story. (HuffPost)
Additionally, Wynn and his legal representatives set up a company separate from his Wynn Resorts Ltd., according to public records, that helped conceal a $7.5 million payment to a woman who had accused the casino mogul of forcing her to have sex. (WSJ)