If Steve Wynn thinks that Kazuo Okada’s ouster from the Wynn board directors will be a mere formality once the February 22 special shareholders meeting commences, the latter is certainly making it a whole lot more difficult after filing yet another lawsuit requesting the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to put the clamps on the aforementioned meeting. The lawsuit was filed in light of what Okada’s attorneys describe as “numerous materially false and misleading statements … as part of [Wynn’s] effort to avoid an honest and informed shareholder vote” with regards to the proxy statement Wynn sent to its shareholders.
The on-going feud between the one-time BFFs has resulted in numerous lawsuits from both sides that could fill in an entire season’s worth of Law and Order episodes. This time, Okada’s new suit called into question financial improprieties made by Wynn, particularly what the Japanese tycoon is outing as the “Cotai Documents”, an alleged $50 million transaction made by Wynn Resorts to a company controlled by an dude named Ho Ho in Macau. That transaction, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal back in June 2012, was made in connection with the Cotai Strip property on which Wynn Resorts intends to build its new $4 billion Macau casino.
Okada did admit that he could not verify the authenticity of the Cotai Documents, but stressed to the board that it was even more important for the latter to do its due diligence and have the documents investigated.
Responding to Okada’s latest lawsuit, Wynn senior vice president of marketing Michael Weaver issued a statement debunking what he described as “just the latest ploy in Mr. Okada’s increasingly desperate campaign to divert attention from the real issue – his misconduct as a director of Wynn Resorts”. Wynn himself has also gone on record explaining that the deal with Ho Ho was above ground and done part an parcel of securing the Cotai development site. “This whole business of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – we were schooled in this,” Wynn told The Wall Street Journal in June of 2012. “Right away we started checking everybody with Mr. Ho Ho, and everybody came up dandy.”
Apparently, Okada isn’t buying that explanation and he’s doing all he can to bring the issue back up to light. Who knows what the next chapter of this on-going saga will hold. For now, though, it’s Kazuo Okada serving up another lawsuit. The question now is: will something come out of it before the Wynn board holds its special shareholders meeting on February 22?
