Judge Keeps Lawsuit Alive Accusing Wynn of Turning ‘Blind Eye’ to Ponzi Schemer’s Millions
Posted on: June 23, 2026, 08:42h.
Last updated on: June 23, 2026, 09:47h.
- Judge Anne Traum dismissed negligence claims but allowed a Nevada stolen-property claim against Wynn to move forward
- Plaintiffs allege Wynn’s VIP treatment of David Bunevacz helped legitimize him and encouraged further investment
- Bunevacz blew roughly $3.76 million at Wynn Las Vegas before his massive $45 million cannabis-vape Ponzi scheme inevitably collapsed
A federal judge in Nevada has allowed part of a lawsuit against Wynn Las Vegas to move forward, keeping alive a unique claim that the casino illegally received stolen funds tied to a fraudster’s $45 million cannabis-vape Ponzi scheme.
The case was filed by Canadian businessman Stephen Shefsky and his company, James Bay Resources Ltd., who were among the investors defrauded by David Bunevacz, a former decathlete, actor, and businessman now serving a 17.5-year federal prison sentence for fraud.
Bunevacz, who excelled as a student athlete at UCLA and won a gold medal for the Philippines in the javelin at the 1997 Asian Games, admitted in 2022 to duping investors into funneling $45 million into his bogus vape pen business.
Prosecutors said that between April 2015 and June 2019, Bunevacz used investor funds for personal expenses, including luxury goods, travel and gambling, spending more than $8 million at Las Vegas casinos.
Big in the Philippines
Before his downfall, Bunevacz was a celebrity in the Philippines where he acted in several films and was known for dating famous actresses and beauty queens, one of whom later claimed he had used her as an unwitting drug mule.
In October 2024, James Bay filed a statement of claim against Wynn Resorts in Ontario. The current federal action in Nevada was filed on February 25, 2025.
According to the complaint, Bunevacz and Wynn Las Vegas offered Shefsky a free room in November 2018, while Bunevacz “wined and dined” him to solicit further investment.
A week later, according to the judge’s order, James Bay made a $1.5 million loan and Shefsky personally advanced $100,000. The plaintiffs claim they later invested another $3 million in Bunevacz-controlled companies.
The loans were sent to a Wells Fargo account that was also used to make “front money” deposits at Wynn, where Bunevacz lost about $3.76 million between January 2018 and June 2019, according to the complaint.
James Bay alleges the casino accepted the funds from Bunevacz while failing to properly examine where they came from, despite a 2017 conviction for securities fraud and a high-rolling reputation.
The plaintiffs further allege Wynn’s VIP treatment of Bunevacz helped legitimize him and encouraged further investment.
Stolen Property Statute
Wynn moved to dismiss the lawsuit, and on June 3 US District Judge Anne Traum rejected the plaintiffs’ negligence and unjust-enrichment claims, finding that Nevada’s economic-loss doctrine barred negligence claims based only on lost money.
The unjust enrichment claim also failed because the plaintiffs did not adequately plead that they lacked a legal remedy.
But the judge refused to dismiss the claim brought under Nevada’s receipt-of-stolen-property statute. This law allows property-crime victims to sue a third party that receives or possesses stolen property under circumstances in which it knew, or reasonably should have known, the property was stolen.
Traum emphasized that the ruling was procedural and did not determine whether Wynn actually knew the funds were stolen.
The lawsuit points to Wynn’s unrelated 2024 non-prosecution agreement with the Department Of Justice, where Wynn Las Vegas agreed to forfeit $130.1 million to resolve allegations it conspired with unlicensed money-transmitting businesses to move funds for gamblers.
The DOJ described it as the largest forfeiture by a casino based on admissions of criminal wrongdoing.
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