Steve Wynn, the billionaire casino developer behind Wynn Resorts, has lambasted former Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s political actions, according to the Associated Press.

Wynn, who is credited with spearheading the dramatic resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip in the 1990s, reportedly told more than 1,000 investment advisers at a conference that the communist revolutionary’s “imbecilic” Cultural Revolution “almost ruined” the country.

Wynn Resorts operates a casino-resort in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macau.

Wynn, who spoke during a question-and-answer session at the Charles Schwab IMPACT 2007 conference, later clarified his remarks, saying: “I said the Cultural Revolution almost ruined the country. It was imbecilic. I didn’t call him an imbecile, I said it was imbecilic.”