In its bombshell report detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against casino mogul Steve Wynn, the Wall Street Journal alleged that a manicurist who said she was forced to have sex with Wynn walked away with a $7.5 million settlement. In a new report, the Journal details just how that payment was allegedly made. It cites the transcript of an October court hearing related to ongoing litigation between the 76-year-old and his ex-wife, Elaine, in which a lawyer for Wynn Resorts makes clear that "Entity Y," a limited liability company established in 2005 (which sources say was after the manicurist's claim), was created with the intention of handling settlement money.
The Journal's take is that the LLC "helped conceal a $7.5 million payment" to the manicurist, but a rep for Wynn Resorts disputes any sexual assault correlation: "Entity Y was created to receive settlement proceeds, however there would have been no settlement or negotiations if the matter was about an alleged assault." Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday reported that it had spiked a 1998 story detailing misconduct allegations against Wynn, including one woman's claim that he pressured her into having sex after she became a grandmother to see what sex with a grandmother was like. Two of the women took lie detector tests. The journalist behind the story, Carri Geer, is now the paper's metro editor and says she doesn't remember who pulled the story and told her to delete it; she saved a copy. (More Steve Wynn stories.)