{"id":147553,"date":"2020-09-04T10:53:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T17:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=147553"},"modified":"2020-09-04T11:49:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T18:49:27","slug":"steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Wynn Defamation Case Against Former Hairstylist Thrown Out of Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Wynn Resorts hairstylist has successfully defeated a defamation suit brought against him by his former boss, the disgraced casino mogul Steve Wynn.<\/p>\n

\"Steve
The court concluded that Jorgen Nielsen (left) demonstrated that his allegations about Wynn (right) were \u201ctruthful or made without knowledge of its falsehood\u201d and were in the public interest to make. (Image: Getty\/Facebook\/Casino.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jorgen Nielsen, originally from Denmark, was the artistic director of the salon at the Wynn Las Vegas and later the Encore up until 2013. He was one of two people who went on the record in the now-infamous Wall Street Journal<\/em> article of January 2018 that accused Wynn of chronic sexual misconduct against female employees, although the newspaper claimed to have heard from \u201cdozens\u201d of former staff members who spoke anonymously.<\/p>\n

Nielsen is quoted as saying in the article that \u201cEverybody was petrified.\u201d And when he and other salon employees told management about Wynn\u2019s alleged behavior, \u201cNobody was there to help us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The allegations led to Wynn\u2019s resignation as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, and, later, the divestiture of his company stock for over $2 billion, although he continues to deny all the allegations against him.<\/p>\n

SLAPP Happy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In April 2018, Wynn sued Nielsen for defamation, claiming, \u201cIn falsely accusing Mr. Wynn of sexual misconduct in the #MeToo era, Defendant Nielsen acted with the unlawful purpose of smearing Mr. Wynn and creating workplace issues for Mr. Wynn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Nielsen attempted to have the case dismissed by filing an anti-SLAPP motion, which failed. A SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, is a case which the plaintiff does not necessarily expect to win, but files in a bid to silence, intimidate or censor critics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But on Tuesday, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the district court\u2019s decision and upheld the anti-SLAPP motion.<\/p>\n

Neilsen’s communication to national media “made in direct connection with an issue of public interest in a public forum” and was made “without knowledge of its falsehood,” Justice Mark Gibbons wrote in the court\u2019s order.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Illegal Surveillance\u2019 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Separately, Nielsen is suing Wynn Resorts<\/a> and several of its top executives, alleging that they engaged in a surveillance operation against him in 2018 \u2013 a case still pending.<\/p>\n

In April 2019, Wynn\u2019s former VP of corporate security, James Stern, told a hearing of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) that he had tailed former employees, including Nielsen, on behalf of his billionaire boss.<\/p>\n

The MGC eventually fined Wynn Resorts a record $20 million for its failure to adequately investigate sexual misconduct claims against Wynn, although it was allowed to retain its license in Massachusetts.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Wynn Resorts hairstylist has successfully defeated a defamation suit brought against him by his former boss, the disgraced casino mogul Steve Wynn. Jorgen Nielsen, originally from Denmark, was the artistic director of the salon at the Wynn Las Vegas and later the Encore up until 2013. He was one of two people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":147557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSteve Wynn Case Against Former Hairstylist Thrown Out of Court<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steve Wynn defamation lawsuit against former Wynn Resorts salon artistic director Jorgen Nielsen tossed by Nevada Supreme Court.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steve Wynn Case Against Former Hairstylist Thrown Out of Court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steve Wynn defamation lawsuit against former Wynn Resorts salon artistic director Jorgen Nielsen tossed by Nevada Supreme Court.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-04T17:53:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-04T18:49:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jorgen-steve.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1190\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"684\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/\",\"name\":\"Steve Wynn Case Against Former Hairstylist Thrown Out of Court\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jorgen-steve.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-04T17:53:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-04T18:49:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Steve Wynn defamation lawsuit against former Wynn Resorts salon artistic director Jorgen Nielsen tossed by Nevada Supreme Court.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/steve-wynn-case-against-former-hairstylist-thrown-out-of-court\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jorgen-steve.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jorgen-steve.jpg\",\"width\":1190,\"height\":684,\"caption\":\"The court concluded that Jorgen Nielsen (left) demonstrated that his allegations about Wynn (right) were \u201ctruthful or made without knowledge of its falsehood\u201d and were in the public interest to make. 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He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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