The Wall Street Journal’s investigative reporting team has another stellar article on the sexual harassment and assaults perpetrated by Steve Wynn, who was until recently head of the Republican National Committee’s Finance chair.
Several senior managers at Wynn Resorts reportedly threatened employees when they complained about being harassed or assaulted by Wynn.
Angela Saxton was a young spa attendant at a casino run by Steve Wynn in the 1990s when, she said, the mogul sexually assaulted her. One day later, the casino’s head of human resources sought her out to deliver an unequivocal message. “You need to keep your mouth shut,” the executive, Arte Nathan, told her, according to Ms. Saxton. — www.wsj.com/...
This is the head of Human Resources, whose mission it presumably was to ensure the safety of employees. He’s also got a TEDx Talk up about how “doing a good deed can be its own reward” and talks about how “coming of age in the 1960s” he learned from Bobby Kennedy and MLK’s lives that he wanted to “help people”. Except, it seems, when those people were women sexually assaulted by his boss, Steve Wynn.
We have seen this pattern over and over again, lawyers, HR managers utilized by serial sexual assaulters to silence victims. Wynn seems to have organized matters so that his senior managers could squash complaints and threaten employees who complained about his behavior.
At times, former employees said, low-level supervisors were sympathetic but felt themselves powerless. Tiffany Kambouris, who was a salon manager at Wynn Resorts, said she brought complaints about Mr. Wynn’s behavior toward women to upper management without effect.
“These people are supposed to be handling problems and taking care of it, and they don’t,” she said. “It’s shameful.” — www.wsj.com/...
And this rigmarole continues. It’s now clear that both the replacement CEO and the company’s general counsel have known about these allegations for years. They’ve known that several female employees reported that Steve Wynn forced then to perform oral sex, harassed them, or forced them to have sex with him, and that several others barely escaped these attempted assaults.
These senior managers, including the new CEO, who did nothing about it for years, are now hiding behind a “board investigation” and claim “zero tolerance” for sexual harassment. Their hypocrisy and cowardice is only exceeded by the RNC. The RNC is hanging on to hundreds of thousands in donations from the former finance chair who is credibly accused of sexual assault by dozens of women. It’s the party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump after all.
Wynn Resorts referred questions about the allegations to a special committee of its board investigating Mr. Wynn’s behavior. That committee said the board “cares deeply about the safety and well-being” of employees, but that it isn’t appropriate to comment until the investigation, aided by outside counsel, is complete. New CEO Matt Maddox said in a written statement he and the board will act quickly on any recommendations from the investigation, adding the company has “zero tolerance” of sexual harassment.
Officials in Massachusetts, where Wynn Resorts is building a casino-hotel, have said they are looking into who was told of Mr. Wynn’s alleged behavior and what, if anything, they did in response. Mr. Maddox recently indicated on CNBC he has known about the manicurist’s 2005 allegations since 2016, and court filings indicate general counsel Kim Sinatra has known since at least 2009. Wynn Resorts wouldn’t comment because the board investigation is continuing. — www.wsj.com/...