The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) is finally in receipt of the Wynn Resorts investigation done by its Investigations and Enforcement Bureau (IEB) – an investigation that has been held up for months by finishing touches and, more recently, a lawsuit by Steve Wynn.
Executive Director Ed Bedrosian said at the March 14 meeting that with the resolution of the case by Steve Wynn in Nevada, the report with redactions can now be released to the Commissioners.
“I expect tomorrow (March 15) you will receive the IEB’s investigatory report,” he said. “Once you have that report, the pre-hearing preparations can formally begin.”
Those preparations include the Commission privately reviewing the investigation report, the Legal Division working with Wynn Resorts on the pre-hearing details, the IEB preparing its public presentation, and then the setting of a date to roll out the investigation publicly.
“It is my hope once work has started on these items a date can be set and noticed soon,” said Bedrosian.
Bedrosian said on the first day of the public process the IEB would roll out their investigation, and then the licensee would have an opportunity to ask questions and present their own evidence.
“Both the IEB and the licensee will be represented by counsel and can ask questions,” he said. “At the hearing you as Commissioners are also allowed to ask questions. Once the information is presented to you…the hearing will conclude.”
The hearings are expected to take multiple days to conclude, and once concluded the MGC will deliberate in private about the outcome. The decision will be made public in a written report.
The meeting also addressed the six executive sessions that were held on the lawsuit by Steve Wynn, and how the MGC had decided to roll out severely redacted minutes from those sessions.
Coming to a resolution on that lawsuit, which was about allegedly violating Steve Wynn’s attorney client privilege, was the key to being able to get to a point to release the investigation publicly.
“The legal resolution resulted in the lawsuit’s recent dismissal and enabled the Gaming Commission to finalize its suitability review of Wynn Resorts,” said Chair Cathy Judd-Stein. “Over the course of several executive sessions, the Commission conducted a meticulous and deliberate review of the legal complexities and investigative considerations involved in this matter. The decision to execute a resolution accomplished two key important goals. It ensured the Commissioners access to critical investigative materials and eliminated the uncertainty of prolonged litigation.”
The redactions in the minutes of the executive sessions, she said, was to preserve their own attorney-client privileges. A date for the beginning of the hearings had not yet been set as of Tuesday afternoon.