Casino billionaire Steve Wynn is suing the news agency Associated Press for libel over a story on a woman who claimed he allegedly raped her in the 1970s and she had a child with him.
In a civil suit filed on Wednesday in Clark County District Court, Wynn alleges that the report a woman gave to Las Vegas police was “intentionally” chose by Associated Press (AP) reporter “to incompletely and unfairly” describe the claims.
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The story published in February said that a woman complained that Wynn raped her at least three times between the years 1973 and 1974 at her Chicago apartment, that she became pregnant with his child and gave birth to a girl named Kevyn in a gas station restroom.
The founder of Wynn Resorts lawsuit says the reporter did not mention the fact that the woman also stated in the police that she was Wynn’s wife and that she is the mother of his daughter, Kevyn.
The suit alleges that AP published the story despite “knowledge of falsity and reckless disregard for the truth.”
Wynn asks for compensatory damages above $15,000, punitive damages, a retraction and correction of the story and recovery of attorney’s fees for Wynn.
The lawsuit identifies for the first time the woman’s name and says that she also filed a lawsuit in August 2017, alleging that in 1993 Wynn planned the kidnapping of Kevyn her daughter.
Casino Billionaire Steve Wynn accused for Sexual misbehavior by Dozens of People
The Nevada Independent claims that according to the police report, as quoted in the lawsuit, the woman said that after she gave birth “the baby was laying on her feet inside of the water bag” and that she “slid down and said a doll is inside the water bag, the blood falling down, and she wanted to open, but the bag was thick.”
The woman also told police that she “used her teeth to make a small opening with her finger, opened the water bag and saw that the doll was purple,” after which she “started to blow on her and in a short time the cheeks were turning pink and she opened her eyes.”
“The accusations of rape were false and described a clearly fanciful or delusional scenario,” the suit states.
AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said the news organization “stands by its reporting.”
The lawsuit said: “After the publication of the January 26 Journal article, Mr. Wynn became a multi-billionaire target of a media and legal frenzy of false accusations, including false accusations of rape.”
Wynn added in his lawsuit that the AP story was published at 16 major news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times and “created a media frenzy of accusations against Mr. Wynn when … a multitude of the national and international news media republished the salacious and sensational accusations of rape against Mr. Wynn.”
Wynn resigned as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts in February following the Wall Street Journal’s publication of multiple accounts of women accusing him of sexual misconduct during his tenure atop the casino company.
He’s faced several lawsuits since resigning, including a nail technician and massage therapist, accusing him of sexual assault.
