mogul

　パチンコ業界大手ユニバーサルエンターテインメントが２８日、係争中の米カジノ運営ウィン・リゾーツとその役職員１２人に対し、損害賠償の一部請求訴訟を東京地方裁判所に提訴しました。

Japanese pachinko mogul sues Wynn Resorts in Tokyo
By Elaine Kurtenbach

Japanese pachinko tycoon Kazuo Okada has filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court seeking $140 million in damages from casino operator Wynn Resorts.

Universal Entertainment said in a statement Wednesday that it is seeking damages for harm caused to its share price and business due to Wynn’s decision to remove Okada as a board member and reclaim the $2.77 billion of shares in the company owned by Okada’s company, Universal Entertainment Corp.

Okada and billionaire Steve Wynn, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, are former friends and business partners, but have been trading accusations of improprieties as regulators investigate alleged violations of U.S. anti-corruption laws on both sides.

The lawsuit filed in Tokyo this week is demanding 11 billion yen ($140 million) in damages. It alleges that Wynn’s actions and comments hurt Universal Entertainment’s stock price, hindering its business opportunities and damaging Okada’s reputation.

“This action asserts that Steve Wynn has indulged in fraud, deception, theft and betrayal to maintain control of his gaming enterprises and enrich himself based on a false and predetermined pretext,” Universal Entertainment said in a statement.

Universal’s spokesman in Tokyo was not immediately available for comment. Wynn’s staff in Macau referred inquiries to their offices in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The two sides have been feuding for months. Wynn refused to back Okada’s plan to build a $2 billion casino resort project in the Philippines, saying it would compete with Wynn Resorts’ own business there. Meanwhile, Wynn commissioned an investigation and sued Okada in Nevada for alleged breach of his fiduciary duties and other “gross improprieties.”

In March, Universal countersued, questioning a donation by Wynn Resorts to the University of Macau that is now being probed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nevada Gaming Commission as a possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

One of Japan’s wealthiest businessmen, with net worth over $1.8 billion according to Forbes, Okada started out selling jukeboxes and then expanded into selling the machines used in pachislot, or slot machines, and pachinko, a popular form of pinball that skirts Japan’s law against gambling by awarding prizes

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/japanese-pachinko-mogul-sues-wynn-resorts-in-tokyo

今回取り上げるのはmogulです。モーグルといえば、オリンピック種目にもなっているスキーのフリースタイル競技種目の一つであるモーグルが思い浮かぶ方が多いかもしれません。しかしこの単語は以前取り上げたtycoonという単語でパラフレーズできるようにも感じました。

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20120809/1344524319

ここではもちろん「重要人物、権力者」という意味(『ジーニアス英和辞典』第4版、大修館書店)です。語源としては16世紀にインドを征服したモンゴル族が大帝国を築いた事に由来し、それになぞらえています。私はパチンコ業界には疎いのですが、この単語を使うだけで業界で絶大なる影響力を持っていることがわかります。(EnDough)