Casino magnate Steve Wynn is suing the Associated Press for reporting a woman’s allegations that he raped and impregnated her.
In February, Wynn resigned from his company Wynn Resorts after accusations were made against him of sexual misconduct, which he denied.
His attorney, Lin Wood, declined to comment beyond the lawsuit, but told iMediaEthics by e-mail, “A retraction demand was made by Mr. Wynn prior to filing the complaint, as set forth in the complaint.” The Associated Press’s spokesperson Lauren Easton told iMediaEthics, “The Associated Press stands by its reporting.”
iMediaEthics obtained a copy of the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the woman who accused Wynn of rape (who iMediaEthics will not name but the lawsuit did), sued Wynn in August 2017 claiming Wynn kidnapped his daughter Kevyn in 1993 (Kevyn was in fact kidnapped) and that she was the mother of Kevyn. However, Wynn’s lawsuit calls that an “outrageous, false and inherently improbable” claim; instead, Wynn’s lawsuit said that Kevyn was the daughter of Wynn and his ex-wife Elaine. Wynn’s lawsuit notes that in March, a U.S. magistrate judge called the lawsuit “a clearly fanciful or delusional scenario.”
Then, the woman filed a police report about two weeks after the Wall Street Journal‘s January article reporting accusations of sexual misconduct against Wynn.
Wynn’s lawsuit also calls the police report “outrageous, false and inherently improbable” and alleges the AP “intentionally chose to incompletely and unfairly report” on the police report by not including some of the police report accusations like the woman’s claim she gave birth in a gas station bathroom and that the woman claimed to be married to Wynn.
The Associated Press’s March 4 story was headlined, “Woman tells police Steve Wynn raped her in ’70s,” and reported, “A woman told police she had a child with casino mogul Steve Wynn after he raped her, while another reported she was forced to resign from a Las Vegas job after she refused to have sex with him.”
The story noted the two women “recently filed” police reports and didn’t name either woman, noting, “The women’s names are redacted on the reports, and police said they do not identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes.” The lawsuit does name the woman, the Nevada Independent noted. The Nevada Independent appears to have broken the story of Wynn’s lawsuit against the AP; the site disclosed that Wynn has donated to the site.