Uncle Sam appears to be making a systematic sweep of the Strip, probing all the major players. The latest target, according to the Wall Street Journal, is Wynn 
Resorts, which denies knowledge of any federal probe. However, according to the WSJ, a trident of the U.S. Attorney’s office, the DEA and the IRS is aimed squarely at Wynn, investigating potential money laundering. This comes while Caesars Entertainment is under the microscope and Las Vegas Sands has recently ponied up $47 million for money-handling infractions.
“We are not aware of any criminal investigation of the company whatsoever and we have serious doubts that any such investigation is taking place,” said Wynn Resorts attorney Michael Weaver, who said that there had been no contact from the feds … and if there was, it wouldn’t necessarily be damning: “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 any wrongdoing by the company,” Weaver said, in a non-denial denial he repeated to the Boston Herald.
According to the WSJ, the government wants personal and financial information on Wynn’s top 250 domestic and international players, plus an organizational chart of top 
Wynn management. (Sounds like a fishing expedition.) In addition to trying to detect the movement of drug money, “Investigators are trying to determine if Wynn violated the laws through its handling of sports-betting activities and through the casino’s dealings with high-roller gamblers, said some of the people familiar with the matter,” read the paper.
Wynn’s freshly won perch in Massachusetts suddenly looks precarious. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission said it would look into the allegations. “They’ll make whatever inquiries they deem appropriate at this point,” said spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. As disingenuous as Weaver may sound, he has a point. Were the company being probed, it would have to share that information with investors via an SEC filing. The company’s most recent SEC notice was that it was borrowing $1 billion to build its Everett resort.
Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery told casino executives last June they “must continue their progress in thinking more like other financial institutions.” This string of investigations seems designed to put some iron behind the message, especially since Calvery said the burden of compliance is on casinos, not their customers or the government. Even if the WSJ‘s sources are crying wolf, Wynn remains between the pincers of Chinese and Department of Justice probes into Steve Wynn‘s controversial $135 million donation to the University of Macau. At least he can point toward exonerations from the SEC and Nevada Gaming Control Board in that matter.
* “It’s not worth risking your whole career over,” admitted Vice-Admiral Timothy “Navy Tim” Giardina, whose reputation is in tatters after he was caught cheating at Horseshoe Council Bluffs. Nabbed in June 2013 for using fake chips, Giardina was 
a 15-hour-a-week poker player at Horseshoe. For a former sub commander, a posting to Omaha may have seemed enervating but that doesn’t explain why Giardina ran the risk of faking up his own $500 chips. Horseshoe surveillance personnel were also grossed out by Giardina’s habit of smoking other patrons’ discarded cigarette butts. (Ugh.) Strangely, Horseshoe did not ban him permanently at first, for reasons undisclosed. However, a U.S. Army inspection turned up proof that Giardina made the chips and no doubt contributed to his dismissal from the Strategic Air Command. A court martial convicted him of passing fake gambling chips and of perjury. “Navy Tim” still holds a two-star rank but I have a feeling he’s going to find it hard to get people to trust him.
