Universal Entertainment, Kazuo Okada File Suit Against Wynn Resorts
By Mimi Kmet
August 28, 2012 10:52 PM
Universal Entertainment Corp. (UE), and its chairman, Kazuo Okada, have filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court against Wynn Resorts, Limited, and Stephen Wynn, its chairman and CEO. The lawsuit seeks approximately 11 billion yen ($140 million) in damages related to Wynn’s attempt to strip Aruze USA Inc. (a subsidiary of UE) of its interest in Wynn Resorts and remove Okada as a director, according to UE.
The lawsuit states that the global resonance of Wynn’s actions and “misleading public announcements” led to a falloff in UE’s stock price and new business opportunities and damaged Okada’s reputation.
The dispute has its roots in the 2010 divorce of Steve and Elaine Wynn, which resulted in Steve Wynn losing ownership of roughly half of his stock in the company, leaving Aruze USA as the single largest shareholder and posing a threat to Wynn’s total control of the company, UE said.
