Macau’s Court of Second Instance has upheld a previous ruling that absolved Wynn Macau of any responsibility in a MOP8.2 billion (US$1 billion) lawsuit by Japanese businessman, Kazuo Okada, a former business partner of the gaming operator.
According to the Macau News Agency, Okada filed the suit in 2015, three years after he was forced off Wynn’s board. He claimed that Wynn Macau illegally provided his personal data to former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who had been hired to conduct an investigation on Okada. Freeh’s report led to his expulsion from the board in February 2012, causing Okada to forfeit MOP8.2 billion in property and non-property losses.
The suit also claimed that Wynn Macau and Steve Wynn had paid US$35 million to an undisclosed company to get a 200,000-square-meter land plot in Macau’s Cotai district. Okada took Wynn to task for donating US$135 million to the University of Macau’s Development Foundation, a gesture Okada said did not serve shareholders’ interests. Okada had requested that Wynn Macau be liquidated.
