PLAYING BOTH SIDES

Casino Mogul Steve Wynn Ordered to Register as Chinese Agent

The longtime Trump crony “acted at the request of the PRC out of a desire to protect his business interests in Macau,” according to the Department of Justice.

The Department of Justice is suing casino mogul and Trump pal Steve Wynn in an attempt to force him to register as a Chinese government agent. The DOJ filed a civil enforcement action on Tuesday, alleging that Wynn lobbied Trump himself on behalf of China, which wanted the U.S. to extradite fugitive billionaire Guo Wengui, who fled to America in 2014 and was later charged with corruption back home. “Wynn engaged in these efforts at the request of [Chinese Ministry of Public Security Vice-Minister] Sun Lijun…,” DOJ said in a statement announcing the move. “Wynn conveyed the request directly to the then-President over dinner and by phone, and he had multiple discussions with the then-President and senior officials at the White House and National Security Council about organizing a meeting with Sun and other PRC government officials.” Wynn “acted... out of a desire to protect his business interests in Macau,” according to DOJ. U.S. authorities ordered Wynn last year to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), but DOJ said Tuesday that he had “declined to do so.”