Las Vegas Weekly

August 29, 2010 · 5:50 PM

E! report: In wake of arrest, Steve Wynn boots nightclub operator Cy Waits

By John Katsilometes

Paris Hilton and Cy Waits.

Photo: Copyrighted: DO NOT DUPLICATE

E! Online is reporting that Cy Waits’ Friday-night arrest with girlfriend Paris Hilton on the Strip has cost him his job as one of Steve Wynn’s nightclub operators.

“In a span of one week, Cy Waits has gone from hero to zero,” the E! Online story artfully reports. The site drew its information from "multiple sources" and quotes one Las Vegas insider as saying, "Wynn has a zero-tolerance policy with their club execs when it comes to brushes with the law," which would indeed be in character for the resort mogul.

A few other celebrity-news Web sites have picked up the E! story. However, the reported dismissal of Waits has not been confirmed by Wynn hotel officials. In a phone call this afternoon, Wynn Las Vegas spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne said she knew nothing of reports that Waits had been let go, saying she was not permitted to comment at all on Waits’ position with the company or the stunning arrest of the 34-year-old Waits and the 29-year-old Hilton. Dunne did say she was looking into the matter today and would inform media outlets when the hotel was ready to issue a statement.

Waits and his twin brother, Jesse, have served as managing partners at Tryst at Wynn Las Vegas and XS at adjoining Encore. They also have run operations at the long-established nightspot Drai's After Hours at Bill's Gamblin' Hall (formerly Barbary Coast), which is owned by Harrah's Entertainment.

The two grew in stature last week as it was announced that Steve Wynn was formally splitting with nightclub operator Victor Drai -- who opened all of the above-mentioned clubs and had a long partnership with Wynn -- leaving the brothers to run Drai's Vegas nightlife empire.

That all seems to have changed, at least for Cy Waits, on Friday night at 11:30, when Waits was arrested on misdemeanor suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs after a Metro motorcycle officer stopped a Cadillac Escalade being driven by him and with Hilton as passenger. The officer smelled marijuana smoke billowing from the SUV, prompting a quite-public arrest. Hilton was found to be holding a small amount of powder cocaine and was arrested on suspicion of felony cocaine possession. She was held for a time in the Wynn as authorities prepared to transfer her to Clark County Jail.

Earlier in the night, as E! Online also reported, she turned down a limo ride from the hotel to Waits' house in Henderson.

Both were taken into custody and booked into Clark County Jail. Hilton was released before sunrise about three hours after the incident. Waits was to be released Saturday after posting $2,000 bail. His position at Drai's is still not entirely clear; Harrah's spokeswoman Debbie Munch reiterated today that the company had "no comment" on the Waits-Hilton arrest or issues related to the incident.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.

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