Casino tycoon Kazuo Okada files defamation complaint against Wynn Resorts

Universal Entertainment and its billionaire founder Kazuo Okada have filed a criminal complaint against Wynn Resorts and its CEO Steve Wynn in Japan on allegations of defamation.

The complaint marks the latest salvo in a long-running feud between the two former business partners.

Universal said in a statement on Wednesday that it submitted the complaint to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on April 24, accusing the US casino operator and its CEO of "defamation, harm to public trust and circulation of rumours" in relation to the publication of an investigation into Universal's conduct in the Philippines.

The investigation was commissioned by Wynn and made public in early 2012. Wynn said the criminal complaint was an attempt by Okada "to create a distraction from the investigations pending against him".

It said the complaint was related to a previously filed civil defamation case that a Tokyo court, ruling it should not be tried in Japan, dismissed last year. Universal is appealing that ruling.

Universal filed the civil defamation case after Wynn published its investigation into Okada in February 2012, alleging his company improperly offered gifts and entertainment to gaming officials in South Korea and the Philippines.