Fontainebleau has filed a counterclaim against a Wynn lawsuit, after the Las Vegas casino accused Fontainebleau of poaching executive staff earlier this month, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The initial lawsuit claimed criticised Fontainebleau Las Vegas, which opened in December last year following over a decade of development. Wynn claimed the Strip casino had an ‘unhealthy obsession’ with Wynn, highlighting events starting in mid-2022 when Fontainebleau attempted to solicit staff to join its executive team despite agreements stated in their Wynn contracts.
Wynn asked for an injunction to be put in place by the Clark County District Court and for Fontainebleau to pay $15,000 in damages.
In Fontainebleau’s counterclaim, also submitted to Clark County District Court, the casino stated that Wynn staff had not been solicited but chose to come to Fontainebleau of their own accord. The casino used the 1976 Eagles track ‘New Kid in Town’ to describe itself in the counterclaim.
Alongside the music reference, the counterclaim also included an email exchange between Wynn CEO and Fontainebleau CEO Craig Billings and Jeff Soffer, which has been described by reports as ‘profanity-laced.’
The counterclaim by Fontainebleau described the exchange, stating, “As FBDev and FBLV have now come to know from subsequent interactions, Billings demonstrated a disturbing lack of dignity and judgment normally exhibited by CEOs of publicly traded companies.”
Wynn followed up with a statement following the counterclaim, calling the counterclaim “filled with fictitious accusations” and that it was “designed to incite social media chatter and is devoid of answers to our original claim.”
“The facts of our original claim against Fontainebleau are clear: Fontainebleau induced Wynn employees to breach their lawful employment contracts. We believe Fontainebleau engaged in that practice because we believe they lack the ability to develop, and based upon numerous recent news reports, to retain talent,” the statement added.
Following the opening of the casino, multiple members of the Fontainbleau executive team have exited the company. This includes President Mark Tricano, SVP of Casino Operations Michael Clifford, COO Colleen Birch and CMO Shane Smith among others.
