United States
United Kingdom
Summary
- An appeals court upheld a lower court ruling to dismiss a lawsuit
- The RICO lawsuit accused Wynn Resorts and Steve Wynn of conspiring with a LACSN official
- The complainant will appeal the case to the Supreme Court
A racketeering lawsuit filed against Wynn Resorts Ltd and ex-CEO Steve Wynn has been junked by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. But the legal battle is far from over as the former Wynn Las Vegas employee who lodged the case will appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Dismissal Upheld
Angelica Limcaco, a former salon manager at Wynn Las Vegas, initially filed a civil rights lawsuit against her ex-boss in 2018 where she accused him of raping one of her salon employees in 2005. Limcaco also claimed in the suit that she was fired, blacklisted, and intimidated into silence by Wynn’s management following her exposé.
The US District Court of Nevada dismissed the case in 2019 on statute of limitations grounds. The dismissal led to Limcaco filing a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit in December 2020.
80-year-old Wynn was listed as one of the defendants, alongside former Wynn CEO Matt Maddox and longtime legal chief at the company Kimmarie Sinatra.
Boston-based business consulting group ML Strategies and former Nevada Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley were also named as defendants in the RICO case.
Buckley, who received campaign donations from Wynn Resorts as early as 2017, currently serves as executive director of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada (LACSN).
Limcaco’s lawyers alleged that Buckley had a hand in the appointment of Elayna Youchah, a former Wynn Resorts attorney, as a magistrate judge in Las Vegas. Youchah eventually became a colleague of the presiding judge of the US District Court of Nevada, Miranda Du, who ultimately ruled in favor of Wynn Resorts in the original lawsuit.
In the RICO case, Limcaco accused Buckley and Wynn Resorts of conspiring to have her lawsuit dismissed.
The appeals court ruled that the case must be dismissed as the claims made by the plaintiff were insufficient, affirming the previous dismissal ruling by the lower court.
Complainant to Appeal to the US Supreme Court
Reacting to the recent ruling, Limcaco’s lawyer Jordan Matthews said they are not deterred by the decision and will take the case to the country’s highest court. He vowed to continue to protect his client’s rights and launch tough cases against Wynn, similar to the Department of Justice which is appealing its Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) case against the casino billionaire.
