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The accusations of sexual harassment printed in the Wall Street Journal about the casino mogul Steve Wynn is another incredible takedown of a real time colossus.
Wynn stood at the very top of his industry Thursday – a genius of sorts at retailing casinos and fine hotels and entertainment and of the Republican National Committee fundraising effort.
By Saturday, after the revelations that he had allegedly had dozens of incidents of sexual harassment against women who worked for him, it was like he was dead and gone.
He had paid one such victim $7.5 million to remain quiet.
So much for the colossus Steve Wynn.
He resigned his position as the Republican Party’s chief fundraiser.
This week the Board of Directors of the Wynn Corporation are meeting to decide what to do with him.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is doing the same.
Most likely he will be fired from the company he founded and which became the sole purpose of his life.
By firing him, the Wynn brand is destroyed as Steve Wynn is the brand.
At the new $2.1 casino he is building in Boston, it is likely the casino will not wear his brand name, Wynn Boston Harbor Casino and Hotel.
Maybe this happens or maybe it doesn’t. One thing is certain, the Wynn name has been turned to mud.
This is problematic as are the allegations against him by dozens of the 150 people interviewed by the WSJ in the creation of the investigative report.
Wynn stock has fallen.
Confidence in the company to move forward without him is slim although the company can remain in business.
But what about the company without Wynn? It has no panache without Wynn.
Wynn is the company and now he is gone or could be gone.
In Boston, the governor has already promised an investigation by the Gaming Commission, whose highly paid, expert investigators found Wynn to be perfectly suited to be the leader of the new effort in Boston.
The Gaming Commission is promising action. The Gaming Commission should be doing an investigation of itself.
In the City of Everett, where the casino-hotel is going to be located, this news is devastating.
Wynn was like a messiah in Everett, tossing around millions everywhere in the working-class city to show how friendly he can be and how worth it his association with the city was going to be.
Now his name in tatters, his presence certainly to be gone shortly, the city is left to wonder what is going to happen.
Its mayor Carlo DeMaria, himself having fought claims of sexual harassment from an employee of his donut shop is in a fix.
He and Wynn now appear to be two peas in a pod – and the irony of this is not lost on the locals.
Turns out Wynn is vile.
He liked being naked with his manicurist when his nails were being polished.
He enjoyed endings to his massages that requires no description on this site.
We wonder again and again, what is wrong with powerful men like Wynn who can’t do the things they want with women free and easy, and above all consensual?
Wynn has tumbled and fallen.
For a conservative guy on the right side of most of the big issues of the day, revelations of his behavior are an outrage.
Turns out he’s a fraud of the worst kind – a sexual harasser who needs to be punished.
He will still have his billions, but he will be shunned.
And in Boston, there will not be a single politician or community leader willing to stand with him at the ribbon cutting.
Nearly every public official in Everett has ben silent or told to be silent or has nothing to say.
They are hoping this isn’t true and everything will go away.
Perhaps this happens.
Perhaps not
Deny everything. Do nothing, they seem to be implying.