The Justice Department sued casino mogul Stephen Wynn on Tuesday, alleging he made requests from China’s government to then-president Trump, and that he must now register as a foreign agent.

The suit claims that in 2017, Wynn shared a request from the Chinese government to deport a Chinese citizen who was seeking asylum in the US. The Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit said Wynn must “register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as the agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and a senior official of the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).”

When asked by the Feds previously on three separate occasions to register as a foreign agent, Wynn declined.

Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) the Justice department can “compel a US Businessperson to register as a foreign agent.”

FARA, enacted in 1938, requires “certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified under the statute to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents.”

A FARA complaint has not been brought against a businessperson in over thirty years.

“The filing of this suit – the first affirmative civil lawsuit under FARA in more than three decades – demonstrates the department’s commitment to ensuring transparency in our democratic system,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “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.”

Court documents allege that Wynn, from “at least” June 2017 until “at least” August 2017, “contacted the then-President and members of his administration to convey the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) request to cancel the visa or otherwise remove from the United States a Chinese businessperson who left China in 2014, was later charged with corruption by the PRC and sought political asylum in the United States.”

Allegedly, Wynn requested the favor for China after the then-Vice Minister of the MPS in China, Sun Lijun, asked him to reach out to Trump. The suit states Wynn met with Trump both in person at a dinner and on the phone.

The complaint claims Wynn “had multiple discussions with the then-President and senior officials at the White House and National Security Council about organizing a meeting with Sun and other PRC government officials.”

Simultaneous with requests to Trump and his administration for a favor for the PRC, the lawsuit claims, Wynn’s company owned and operated active casinos in Macau, which the suit states is a “special administrative region in the PRC.”

In the suit, the DOJ alleges Wynn wanted to protect his business interests in Macau.

Feds claim Wynn also gave Trump’s secretary photos of the unnamed Chinese national’s passport, after discussing the matter with the former President.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in D.C. and states that the “enforcement action is being handled by the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the National Security Division. Trial Attorney Nathan Swinton is litigating the case.”

Wynn is a former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). He resigned from his position as the RNC head in 2018 and then resigned as the CEO of Wynn Resorts in February 2018, after allegations of sexual conduct were raised. Wynn denied these allegations.

His attorneys told the New York Times that Wynn was operating in Macau due to his business concerns.

“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 Wynn attorneys Reid H. Weingarten and Brian M. Heberling of D.C.-based Steptoe & Johnson. “We respectfully disagree with the Department of justice’s legal interpretation of FARA and look forward to proving our case in court.”

In a news release, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, who is also the head of the DOJ’s National Security Division, stated, “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 know….(The) suit demonstrates the department’s commitment to ensuring transparency in our democratic system.