Inside Asian Gaming

NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 37 FEATURES didn’t raise any challenges – but now I raised a question regarding his thoughts about making the donation to University of Macau. I suspect it also compounded with the timing that he was about to split with his wife and then when I started asking for the increase in the number of directors in my camp. Steve Wynn had asked me for specific authorization and acknowledgment for passing of half of his shares to his wife, would I have any issues with that? I had no issue, so I acknowledged that it was okay. The timing was about 2011/2012 and in February 2012, Wynn Resorts started its lawsuit against me. The lawsuit was based on a report that was commissioned and conducted by Louis Freeh, an ex-FBI Director, and it included some reports about some ex- Universal employees who reportedly made possible payments to a PACGOR official. In connection with that, [Steve Wynn] had mentioned that Mr Freeh will be doing an investigation, would I mind cooperating with it? I said I don’t mind, if something comes up, please let me know. Mr Freeh came [to Manila] to ask questions and to investigate – that was February 2012. Freeh had brought up the issue about these entertainment fees. I told him that it was really not to my knowledge, that as chairman of a publicly traded company that has over 1,000 employees – the company has its own rules and those rules do not require a chairman of a company to authorize and acknowledge how much a sales department employee uses for travel, expenses or entertainment. So, it was not within my knowledge to be able to answer and really to provide any information concerning that. Freeh explained to me that this employee, [Masato] Araki, had used money for entertainment fees, it was an excessive amount and that it would be a compliance violation. Prior to Freeh mentioning this about Araki, another Universal employee by the name of Tokuda [Hajime Tokuda, Universal’s president at the time] had asked me whether we can terminate this Araki for excessive usage of funds. My answer was, as a chairman, that’s not really my place to determine who gets fired from a company. But if this person had in fact done what’s been said, then there’s probably no choice but to fire him. This termination had taken place before Freeh had visited me in the Philippines. So, Freeh comes by and mentions Araki and the use of funds and I said, “Wait this is already a done matter. We know about Araki and he has already been terminated.” When Freeh mentioned that in three years, they had used maybe about US$100,000 [the report alleges US$110,000], basically, my reaction was, “Wait, wait, wait … so over three years, it’s US$100,000? It’s about US$30,000 a year. Is this really a problem?” Freeh, by the time he made his report to the board, the directors already knew the content. So I believe the board had When we first met, [Steve Wynn] was more down-to- earth, more laid back. He was very respectful. After the explosive success that Wynn Resorts had, perhaps it went a little to his head ... he became a little full of himself.