LOS ANGELES—It seemed unlikely that music producer Quincy Jones would tell Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis that casino mogul Steve Wynn had threatened to kill him, but the fact that Francis was willing to make the claim under oath in court put a little meat on its bones.
Both Francis and Wynn testified before jurors earlier this week during the first day of the three-day trial taking place in a Los Angeles courtroom. Wynn originally sued Francis for slander in June 2010 after the two men reached an impasse in Wynn's efforts to get Francis to repay a marker for $2 million that dated back to 2007, when he'd loaned Francis the money. Wynn sued Francis over the unpaid debt in 2008 and won, but still failed to get repaid. Then, in February 2011, a Las Vegas grand jury indicted Francis on two counts of theft and passing a bad check related to the millions he still owed Wynn.
Francis' claims of a death threat by Wynn can be traced back to early 2010. Francis made the comments in April of that year on at least two occasions: once during a debtor's examination in a California courtroom and again to a reporter for TMZ, when he stated, "Mr. Wynn has threatened to kill me. He said he would hit me in the back of the head with a shovel and bury me in the desert."
Wynn vehemently denied the charges, and filed suit the same year. At some point in time, however, Quincy Jones—a good friend of Wynn's and also Francis' next-door neighbor, who, according to his own admission, has traveled to the Middle East and Mexico with Francis for events—was pulled into the fray. According to the Seattle Times, on Tuesday "Francis testified that Jones told him Wynn made the threats in conversations and emails..."
When it came time for him to respond in court, however, Wynn not only denied he had threatened Francis, but stated unequivocally, "I've never sent an email in my life."
Francis claimed Jones told him other things about the 70-year-old entrepreneur who has willed into existence such world-famous Las Vegas extravagances as the Mirage, Bellagio, Wynn and Encore. Explaining that Jones was "only trying to save my life," Francis claimed he also told him that “Wynn was a gangster and a murderer who was the de facto head of the Genovese mob family."
Wynn denied all of it, saying of the death threat charges, "It would be a singularly self-destructive act—incredibly, incredibly stupid," and of the insinuation that he would by such actions put thousands of employees at risk, "If I was a gangster and a criminal, what would that mean to their job security?"
Following a few days of testimony that, according to the Washington Post, included witnesses who described in detail "the invasive and complicated vetting process that casino executives such as Wynn must complete," Jones took the stand on Thursday, and essentially unraveled the entire accusation put forth by Francis.
"The Grammy-winning record producer shook his head repeatedly under questioning before a jury as an attorney described Francis’ accusations, which Jones called fiction," reported the Post.
Closing arguments begin tomorrow.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, "The LA trial comes in the wake of a February ruling in favor of Wynn in a separate case in Nevada where Wynn sued Francis for claiming Wynn employs deceptive practices at his casinos. A Nevada judge ruled in favor of Wynn and ordered Francis to pay $7.5 million."
Wynn is seeking $12 million from Francis in the slander trial.
