A range of federal agencies and offices are trying to determine if casino operator Wynn Resorts violated money-laundering laws, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites anonymous sources.
The Journal says the Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administrations are working together with U.S. Attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Las Vegas on an investigation into Wynn Resorts, including what safeguards the Las Vegas-based company has in place to prevent money-laundering. The agencies are working to uncover any potential evidence that Wynn may have violated laws as part of its sports-betting and casino gambling operations.
“We are not aware of any investigation of the company and no agency has notified the company that it is under any investigation,” a Wynn Resorts spokesman said in a statement. “As a highly regulated business we are in a constant dialogue with regulators and governmental agencies on a variety of matters and the fact that information is requested from us by a governmental agency in no way implies the accusation of wrongdoing by the company.”
Wynn (WYNN) is the latest casino operator to find itself the subject of a criminal probe related to money-laundering. The U.S. Treasury Department began investigating Caesars Entertainment (CZR) for possible violations last year in a probe aimed at the company’s flagship Las Vegas hotel and casino, Caesars Palace. And, earlier in 2013, the Las Vegas Sands (LVS) agreed to pay more than $47 million to settle a similar probe that involved that casino’s failure to alert the government after a high-stakes gambler made a series of large, suspicious deposits with the casino.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a statement provided by Wynn Resorts.
