Former casino mogul Steve Wynn has been donating actively to the Republican Party, bolstering the GOP’s reelection efforts in 2020 according to an NPR report.
Steve Wynn Restarts Donations to the GOP
Fallen from grace casino mogul and Wynn Resorts founder Steve Wynn has been confirmed as one of the biggest donors to the Republican Party, only two years after he was ousted from his position of financial chair for the Republican National Committee, NPR.org reported.
Mr. Wynn has been donating millions to back the election of Republican candidates and to political action committees supporting the GOP.
Contributions were temporarily suspended in the fallout of a Wall Street Journal investigation in 2018 that alleged Mr. Wynn’s sexual misconduct with female employees, costing him his position within the company he helped build from scratch and status in worldly affairs, until now at least.
Following his ousting from Wynn Resorts, several gaming regulators across the United States took a long and hard look at whether Wynn properties could be allowed to operate in their states because of suspected complicity with Mr. Wynn’s actions.
Recently, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jorgen Nielsen, a former Wynn employee who was sued by Mr. Wynn for defamation. Meanwhile, Mr. Wynn scored personal win earlier this year in July when a lawsuit by nine anonymous women who alleged they had been sexually harassed by Mr. Wynn was dismissed by a federal judge, restoring his reputation up to a point.
Mr. Wynn himself has been quite belligerent towards any libel directed at his name and he has filed multiple lawsuits against detractors, most of which have been dismissed. Nevertheless, Mr. Wynn is now once again financially backing the Republican Party which he has supported through most of his life.
The origin of the funding may be a little disconcerting to some people, but Republicans have mostly accepted Mr. Wynn’s financial backing. Conversely, Democrats returned money from Harvey Weinstein in the wake of his own rape conviction.
Casino Moguls Help Each Other
However, unlike Mr. Weinstein, Mr. Wynn’s allegations were never proven and he paid a steeper price than most in this case. According to NPR, several high-ranking GOP officials have accepted donations, including Sen. Mitch McConnell and super PACs connected with the senator.
If the numbers are correct, Mr. Wynn has donated an estimated $6 million to various political initiatives in 2020 alone, putting him firmly back on the map as one of the most influential GOP donors.
NPRG has done some digging into the donations – which are usually a public matter – and identified several instances. Mr. Wynn has donated $4 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, NPR said, which is led by a former McConnell’s chief of staff.
Another $1.5 million has gone into the American Crossroads which is another PAC that supports Mr. McConnell. Smaller donations have gone to McConnell Victory Committee ($25,000), Trump Victory ($468,500), and the National Republican Senatorial Committee ($200,000), among others.
Mr. Wynn has not been afraid to publically stand for what he believes in. After founding and driving Wynn Resorts to success, he began donating more frequently to the GOP and has been doing so for years.
U.S. President Donald Trump put his trust in Mr. Wynn back in 2016 charging him with fundraising efforts for the Republican Party, a position in which Mr. Wynn thrived. Mr. Trump, who is also a casino mogul, has been relying on colleagues from the casino industry to support him.
He reportedly reached out to Las Vegas Sands Corp. boss Sheldon Adelson and reprimanded him for not doing enough to back his reelection campaign, to which Mr. Adelson has responded unequivocally allocating $75 million to help Mr. Trump, as confirmed by CNN late last week.