In the western American state of California and a federal appeals court is to reportedly begin hearing oral arguments in December concerning the civil racketeering case being brought against past Wynn Resorts Limited supremo Steve Wynn (pictured).
According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will start considering whether to rule against Wynn from December 6 over an assertion that he violated the tenets of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The action being brought by Angelica Limcaco purportedly also names Wynn Resorts Limited as a co-defendant and relates to an allegation that the former casino magnate used improper payments and influence to get an earlier case against him dismissed.
Alarming accusations:
Wynn reportedly helped to establish the Las Vegas-headquartered casino firm that still bears his name some 20 years ago but was forced to stand down as its Chief Executive Officer in February of 2018 following the emergence of multiple sexual harassment claims. For her part and Limcaco had purportedly managed a salon within the Nevada company’s 2,716-room Wynn Las Vegas property until 2005 when she claims to have been fired and subsequently blacklisted for revealing the alleged rape of one of her workers at the hands of the then 63-year-old executive.
Initial effort:
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Limcaco subsequently filed a civil lawsuit with the United States District Court for the District of Nevada but was left disappointed when Judge Miranda Du dismissed the action for falling outside of the statute of limitations. The plaintiff purportedly later unsuccessfully argued her RICO Act case before the United States District Court for the Central District of California with help from Los Angeles-headquartered law firm Weinberg Gonser Frost LLP before deciding to take the matter on to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Central charge:
Limcaco is to reportedly continue to contend that Wynn Resorts Limited and its boss used donations to a non-profit law office as a way to influence the ultimate decision of Judge Du. Her lawsuit will purportedly allege that Las Vegas attorney Barbara Buckley, who has also been named as a co-defendant, sat on a December of 2018 panel that named the casino firm’s own lawyer, Elayna Youchah, as the replacement for a retiring United States District Court for the District of Nevada magistrate.
Inside information:
The newspaper reported that Limcaco will assert that Buckley furthermore served as the Executive Director for the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, which had received donations from Wynn Resorts Limited dating to 2017. To make matters worse and the plaintiff is to additionally contend that Youchah had been the person in charge of filing most of the casino firm’s briefs dealing with her case.
Established environment:
Jordan Matthews from Weinberg Gonser Frost LLP reportedly told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the RICO Act case is alleging that Limcaco suffered ‘an injury’ due to the plaintiffs’ ‘long-standing scheme of exerting improper influence over public officials in the manner in which they do business’. However, this latest lawsuit purportedly comes after Judge Ronald Lew from the United States District Court for the Central District of California threw out this same contention in late-October due to his belief that it was based upon circumstantial evidence and ‘implausibly speculative assumptions’.
Matthews reportedly told the newspaper…
“In December of 2020 after a thorough investigation, we filed a civil RICO Act case with the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of Angelica Limcaco and against Steve Wynn over alleged attempts to use improper payments and influence to elevate Wynn Las Vegas’ counsel to the position of a judge in Nevada District Court and to dismiss Limcaco’s case.”