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NEW YORK — (Associated Press) - Shares of Wynn Resorts continued falling Monday in the wake of sexual harassment and assault allegations against founder and CEO Steve Wynn.
The stock shed $13.80, or 7.6 percent, to hit $166.60 in midday trading. It has fallen about 18 percent since The Wall Street Journal reported the allegations.
The company and Wynn both vehemently denied the allegations on Friday. At the same time, the board of directors said a committee of independent directors would investigate the allegations. It will be headed by Patricia Mulroy, a board member and former member of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
Fallout from the allegations also includes Wynn's resignation as Republican National Committee finance chairman and a review by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Wynn is building a roughly $2.5 billion resort in the Boston suburb of Everett.
The detailed Wall Street Journal report relies on interviews with dozens of people who corroborate a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct with female employees. The allegations include a $7.5 million settlement with a manicurist, the paper reported.
The newspaper reported that Wynn's actions were well known enough that employees would sometimes enter fake appointments in the books to help other female workers avoid him. In some cases, female employees in the salon would hide in back rooms if they knew Wynn was on his way to the casino.
Both Wynn and the company called the allegations part of a smear campaign related to divorce proceedings from Wynn's ex-wife.
Wynn, chairman and CEO of the company he founded, is a titan in Las Vegas and played a major role in the revitalization of the Las Vegas Strip in the 1990s. It was Wynn's company that built the Golden Nugget, The Bellagio and Mirage Resorts in the heart of town.
