Trump Pal Steve Wynn Can't Be Forced To Register As China Agent

A federal judge on Wednesday (Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, in Manila) threw out the Justice Department’s lawsuit against casino mogul and Republican megadonor Steve Wynn seeking an order that he register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Devan Cole reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: Steve Wynn is a casino mogul and GOP megadonor.

The ruling represents is an embarrassing blow to the Justice Department, which almost never moves to use a civil lawsuit to force a FARA registration. Earlier this year, the department said this was the first time it has filed this kind of affirmative civil lawsuit in three decades.

The Justice Department maintained that Wynn needed to register as a foreign agent because he was working as on behalf of the People’s Republic of China and a former PRC official, Sun Lijun, with messages he conveyed to then-President Donald Trump and the Trump administration, Kara Scannell and Tierney Sneed also reported for CNN.

But District Judge James Boasberg disagreed, dismissing the case and agreeing with Wynn’s argument that he should be shielded by a 1987 federal appeals court decision that “interpreted FARA’s … registration obligation to expire upon the termination of an agency relationship.”

Wynn had argued that under the DC Circuit precedent, any obligation he had to register – even if the allegations were true – ended by October 2017, which is when DOJ alleges that Wynn’s relationship with the Chinese government ended.

In his 20-page ruling, Boasberg agreed that Wynn should have registered under FARA as a matter of public interest. “Indeed, the court does not dispute that even agents who have since ended their agency relationship but who never registered their activities are still in possession of ‘information that (FARA) says the public needs,’” he wrote.

But the law requires the case be dismissed, he added. “While the goals of FARA are laudable, this court is bound to apply the statute as interpreted by the DC Circuit. And that requires dismissal,” Boasberg wrote.

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