The Justice Department sued longtime Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn on Tuesday to compel him to register as a foreign agent because of lobbying work it says he performed at the behest of the Chinese government during the Trump administration.
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The department said it had advised Wynn repeatedly over the last four years to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, and is suing now because Wynn refused to do so.
Though the Justice Department has ramped up efforts to criminally prosecute people who don't register as foreign agents, officials described this case as the first lawsuit of its kind in more than three decades.
"Where a foreign government uses an American as its agent to influence policy decisions in the United States, FARA gives the American people a right to know," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the department's National Security Division, said in a statement.
Wynn's lawyers said Tuesday that they would contest the suit.
"Steve Wynn has never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and had no obligation to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act," said a statement from attorneys Reid Weingarten and Brian Heberlig. "We respectfully disagree with the Department of Justice's legal interpretation of FARA and look forward to proving our case in court."
