Published on: February 10, 2026, at 11:04 AM.
Updated on: February 10, 2026, at 11:12 AM.
- Michael Loizias, a resident of Las Vegas, was apprehended on Monday for a $1 million extortion scheme targeting Steve Wynn.
- The scheme involved over 79 threatening communications dispatched to the billionaire’s residence in Florida since 2023.
- Tracking the threats to Loizias was straightforward for law enforcement as he provided his actual phone number as a contact.
An individual from Las Vegas has been taken into custody for orchestrating a prolonged extortion scheme against casino tycoon Steve Wynn, inundating the influential figure with harmful emails and demands for $1 million.
As per a probable cause affidavit acquired by WPEC-TV/West Palm Beach, 43-year-old Michael Loizias commenced his harassment of Wynn in October 2023 by sending hostile emails and letters that demanded a payment to avoid public exposure of “unsettled taxes” linked to the sale of Wynn stock.
The communications, which included an alarming 79 emails in 2023 alone, were filled with explicit threats.
On January 30, officials from the Palm Beach police department stated that Wynn’s executive assistant had a meeting with officers following a report from Wynn about the extortion.
Earlier on the same day, Wynn received two parcels — one via FedEx and another via USPS Priority Mail — both of which could be traced back to Loizias. Each package contained ominous letters that included statements like: “I am not a nice man. I am not your friend. This situation is going to deteriorate rapidly for you. I know your address.”
The letters demanded that Wynn transfer $1 million to Loizias along with bank details, threatening that he would “visit” Wynn should he fail to comply by March 2.
The investigation unveiled that Loizias allegedly utilized a local FedEx Office branch in Las Vegas to ship one of the packages, providing law enforcement with high-resolution surveillance footage that matched his Nevada driver’s license.
It Wasn’t That Complicated
Interestingly, police did not require extensive evidence due to Loizias listing his authentic phone number as a contact in one of his threat letters. When detectives called the number, they reported that the outgoing message revealed Loizias’ name.
Several calls went unanswered, but on February 5, Loizias briefly picked up before hanging up as soon as a detective introduced himself.
Loizias was arrested on Monday and charged with a criminal count of extortion. He is currently being held on a $50,000 bond at the Main Detention Center in West Palm Beach. A judge has mandated that he refrain from any contact with Wynn or his personnel.
While Wynn has opted for a high-security lifestyle in Florida since resigning from Wynn Resorts in 2018, this incident marks the most significant public security breach he has encountered since relocating. Legal experts suggest that the abundance of documentation — comprising nearly 80 digital and physical documents — categorizes this as one of the most well-documented extortion attempts in the history of Palm Beach.