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(Reuters)—Kazuo Okada, the Japanese billionaire embroiled in a legal fistfight with former partner and chairman of Wynn Resorts, Steve Wynn, on Tuesday filed a defamation lawsuit in Japan against the casino company and its officials.
Mr. Okada, who submitted the filing through his company Universal Entertainment, is claiming $140 million in damages, alleging that Wynn's actions led to a fall off in Universal's stock price, new business opportunities and damaged his reputation.
Representatives for Mr. Wynn were not immediately available.
The filing is the latest skirmish in an eight-month-long saga, which has also seen Messrs. Okada and Wynn sue each other in the United States.
Universal, in a stock exchange statement, said it had filed the lawsuit before the Tokyo District Court.
Until this past winter, Mr. Okada was the largest shareholder in Mr. Wynn's $11 billion gambling empire, which has casinos in Las Vegas and Macau. He helped bankroll Mr. Wynn's operations for more than a decade.
The two fell out publicly in January when Mr. Okada filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against Mr. Wynn for blocking access to financial documents relating to a $135 million company donation to the University of Macau.
Mr. Wynn has stripped Mr. Okada of his once 20% share holding in Wynn Resorts, claiming that he is unsuitable to continue as a board member of the company. Both self-made billionaires claim the other made improper payments to win favor in their respective Macau and Philippines markets.
Mr. Okada who made his fortune in pachinko—a game that is a cross between pinball and slots—is developing a $2 billion casino resort in the Philippines.