Former Wynn Resorts Chief Executive Steve Wynn lobbied then-President Donald Trump in 2017 on behalf of the Chinese government, which sought the return of an exiled businessman, the United States said in a lawsuit seeking to compel Wynn to register as an agent for China.
Wynn engaged in those efforts at the request of Sun Lijun, a former Vice Minister of China’s ministry of public security, and did so to protect operations of casinos in Macau owned by Wynn’s company, the Justice Department said in the complaint filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Elliot Broidy, a former Trump fundraiser who had pleaded guilty to illegal lobbying, sought Wynn’s help on behalf of Sun, according to the lawsuit. Broidy had been cooperating with prosecutors in their investigation of fugitive businessman Jho Low’s push on behalf of China for the U.S. to extradite Guo Wengui, a wealthy exile who criticized China’s government.
