In another clash between casino billionaires Kazuo Okada and Steve Wynn, Okada’s attorneys have gone back to Nevada state court in hopes of prying financial information and other records from Wynn.
In court filings last week in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Okada attorneys for a second time asked Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez to require Wynn’s company Wynn Resorts Ltd. to turn over information about Wynn’s efforts between 2000 and 2002 to gain a lucrative gaming license in Macau, a Chinese gambling enclave.
Okada’s latest legal initiative is part of a suit filed in January by Okada, a Wynn board member. The suit also sought information about Wynn Resorts’ Macau unit pledging a $135 million gift to the University of Macau.
That suit suggested improprieties with the pledge, given Wynn’s status as a Macau casino operator — suggestions denied by Wynn Resorts.
That suit was followed by Wynn Resorts accusing Okada in a separate lawsuit of wrongdoing for providing benefits to Filipino gaming regulators while he was trying to win his own lucrative gaming license in the Philippines.
Wynn’s Feb. 19 suit claimed Okada was unsuitable to serve on its board as he could jeopardize its gaming licenses, that he breached his fiduciary duties as a director and that he misappropriated trade secrets to develop his Filipino casino resort.
That suit, initially filed in state court in Las Vegas, was moved to federal court, where Okada hit Wynn with counterclaims.
Nothing else substantial has developed in the lawsuit so far.
Besides the lawsuit, Wynn Resorts said it redeemed Okada’s $2.7 billion in Wynn shares at a discount for a $1.936 billion, 10-year note.
Wynn also had Okada removed from the board of Chinese subsidiary Wynn Macau Ltd. and now is trying to remove him from the board of parent company Wynn Resorts.
Last week’s legal filings in the state court case follow rejection of most of Okada’s document demands in that court by Gonzalez in March.
The judge at that time ordered Wynn to turn over just two pages of information to Okada that it had not previously supplied him, saying Okada’s requests for information about Wynn lobbying for the Macau gambling license were “overbroad” as they were then framed.
She suggested Okada attorneys could come back with more detailed requests if they desired, which is what they did last week.
The documents now sought relate to:
• Alleged entertainment of Macau government officials by a Wynn predecessor company, Valvino Lamore LLC
• Discussions by, between or with Steve Wynn and management regarding contacts with Macau officials concerning a gaming license.
• How Valvino Lamore used a $120 million investment in April 2002 by Aruze USA, an Okada company.
• “Documents reflecting or concerning expenditures of any amount for or on behalf of government or gaming officials in any jurisdiction.”
In asking the court to require Wynn Resorts to turn over such documents, attorneys for Okada signaled they’re trying to find evidence of improprieties in Wynn Resorts obtaining its Macau license.
They noted the donation pledge to the University of Macau is the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry and five shareholder lawsuits, two of which name Okada as a director.
The information sought, Okada’s attorneys said, is needed for Okada to defend himself against the shareholder lawsuits, to fight efforts to remove him from the Wynn Resorts board and to reverse the forceful redemption of his $2.7 billion in Wynn Resorts shares.
Okada’s court filing said court action is needed because it would be a waste of time for him to request documents from his fellow board members at Wynn Resorts.
“It would be futile to ask the other directors of Wynn Resorts to consider such a request fairly and impartially,” his filing said. “Wynn Resorts’ board of directors, under the control of Chairman Stephen Wynn, has engaged in billions of dollars of self-dealing transactions, designed to entrench themselves; and in an effort to change the subject, they have sought to have Mr. Okada investigated by U.S. authorities, have sued him for breach of fiduciary duty and have filed a profoundly misleading proxy statement trying to have him removed as a director.”
The filing complained Steve Wynn “has caused Wynn Resorts to waste further funds and put the company at further risk, embroiling it in a morass of ever-growing litigation and governmental inquiry.”
“If the board is successful in removing Mr. Okada as a director, then Mr. Okada will have no right to inspect the corporate record, allowing Wynn Resorts to bury any issues that would have been discovered through a review of the corporate records,” his court filing said.
Okada is represented in the dispute by the law firms Alston & Bird LLP in Menlo Park, Calif.; and Lionel Sawyer & Collins in Las Vegas.
A request for comment was placed Wednesday with Wynn’s legal team on Okada’s latest court petition for the production of documents.
Wynn Resorts earlier said Okada’s allegations against Steve Wynn and the company are “scurrilous” and his attorneys said they were eager to fight Okada’s counterclaim in the lawsuit now pending in federal court in Nevada.