The Republican Party recently has accepted nearly $400,000 in donations from Steve Wynn.
The April contributions included $248,500 to the Republican National Committee and $150,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in April, according to a report last week from Politico citing two people familiar with the gifts, which are set to be disclosed publicly this month, the news website said.
The GOP defended accepting the money despite the 77-year-old billionaire’s history as an alleged sexual predator.
“Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “Over the last year and a half, multiple investigations into the allegations against Steve Wynn have concluded. Throughout this entire process, Steve has repeatedly and unequivocally denied wrongdoing, and he has not been charged with or found guilty of any crimes. At this point, there is no reason for refusing his support.”
Wynn resigned last February as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, the Las Vegas-based casino giant he founded, following a report in The Wall Street Journal detailing accusations that he’d been harassing and assaulting female employees of the company for years.
He also stepped down as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, a post he won after Donald Trump entered the White House in January 2017 in acknowledgement both of his stature as a longtime GOP megadonor and fundraiser and his friendship with Trump, who himself has been accused of sexual assault or harassment by some 19 women.
Last month, Wynn greeted Trump on the tarmac when the president flew to Las Vegas for a political rally.
As McDonald pointed out, Wynn has not been charged to date with any crimes, and he has steadfastly denied the accusations. Wynn Resorts, however, has not gotten off so lightly. Investigations by gaming regulators in Nevada and Massachusetts have resulted in $55 million in fines against company for failing to act on numerous in-house reports of his alleged misbehavior. In one case that was known to Wynn’s board of directors at the time and to some former high-level executives of the company, these included a payment of $7.5 million he made in 2005 to a former Wynn Las Vegas manicurist who accused him of raping her and making her pregnant.
