US casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as finance chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) amid sexual harassment allegations.<\/p>\n
A Wall Street Journal report on Friday alleged that the 76-year-old billionaire harassed massage therapists and forced one staff member to have sex with him.<\/p>\n
Mr Wynn has denied wrongdoing, calling the stories “preposterous”.<\/p>\n
RNC chair Ronna McDaniel told US media she had accepted his resignation.<\/p>\n
Mr Wynn has blamed his ex-wife, who he is fighting in court, for the “slander”.<\/p>\n
“The instigation of these accusations is the continued work of my ex-wife Elaine Wynn, with whom I am involved in a terrible and nasty lawsuit,” the billionaire said in a statement that his public relations team sent to the BBC on Friday.<\/p>\n
According to the Wall Street Journal, which said it had interviewed dozens of people who worked with Mr Wynn, he is accused of engaging in a pattern of abuse in which he often harassed massage therapists while alone in his private office.<\/p>\n
The gambling industry giant paid $7.5m (\u00a35.2m) to one manicurist who alleged she had been forced into sex by Mr Wynn, the paper claims citing court documents.<\/p>\n
Female employees would fake appointments in order to avoid seeing him, or enlist others to pretend to be their assistants in order to avoid being alone with him.<\/p>\n
Some would even hide in bathrooms or closets if they heard he was coming to their salon, the paper claimed.<\/p>\n
Mr Wynn is also a Republican Party donor and fundraiser.<\/p>\n
After harassment allegations were made against Hollywood executive producer Harvey Weinstein last year, Ms McDaniel and other leading Republicans called for the Democratic Party to return his donations.<\/p>\n
Now some Democrats are asking if the same rules should apply regarding allegations against Mr Wynn.<\/p>\n
The Democratic National Committee has attacked the RNC for remaining silent.<\/p>\n
In an October statement, Ms McDaniel wrote: “If Democrats and the DNC truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no brainer.”<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"