Wynn Resorts cuts ties with its largest shareholder after bribery accusations
Wynn Resorts Ltd. announced that it has forcibly bought out its largest shareholder, Kazuo Okada, after bribery allegations.
According to the Associated Press, Wynn Resorts Ltd. is seeking to cut ties with its largest shareholder Sunday, after bribery accusations.
The Las Vegas casino giant said that it had forcibly bought back the 31 per cent of shares owned by Kazuo Okada who stands accused of violating U.S. anti- corruption laws after FBI investigators uncovered records of cash payments and gifts valued at about $110,000 to gambling regulators reports Bloomberg.
After a year-long investigation, Wynn Resorts reported that it found more than three dozen instances over a three-year period in which Okada and his colleagues were involved in "improper activities for their own benefit," the Associated Press reported.
The allegations have escalated an ongoing dispute between Wynn founder, Steve Wynn, and Okada, who stepped in to bankroll Wynn Resorts Ltd. over a decade ago.
Last year, Okada was removed from his role as vice-chairman after bribery accusations stemming from a donation to Macau Univesity, the island off of China where Wynn Resorts has a property, says Bloomberg.
Okada, one of the richest people in Japan according to Forbes, is the founder of casino game maker Universal Entertainment Corp., which held a stake in Wynn through its subsidiary Aruze USA Inc.
Aruze shares in Wynn were worth about $2.7 billion.
Wynn Resorts Ltd, however, bought the shares at a discounted $1.9 billion that it was expected to pay within 10 years, says the Wall Street Journal.