MGM Mirage CEO quits amid questions about USC MBA

J. Terrence Lanni, who abruptly resigned as chief executive of Las Vegas casino giant MGM Mirage late today, was facing questions about the academic record he listed on his official biography.

The Wall Street Journal reports on its website that Lanni, 65, never got an MBA from USC, as his biography states.

The Journal said USC "contacted MGM Mirage on Wednesday following the Journal's inquiries about a recent discovery by Barry Minkow, a private fraud investigator in San Diego, of a discrepancy between Mr. Lanni's corporate biography and a database of college degrees accessible to private investigators.

"As recently as late Thursday, company officials said Mr. Lanni had earned the MBA degree," the Journal said.

But USC spokesman James Grant told the Journal that "no [MBA] degree was conferred." He said the business school had searched its records in response to the Journal's inquiry.

Lanni told the Journal: "I must stress that this issue has nothing to do with my decision" to retire.

He said he wanted to make a lifestyle change, noting that his wife lives in Pasadena, where the family has a home.

Lanni told the Journal that he had taken classes toward an MBA, but didn't finish. He said USC had awarded him an honorary MBA in the 1970s.

But USC's Grant told the newspaper that "the official records of the university of honorary degree recipients show that the last honorary MBA that we've awarded was in 1933 -- that we've only awarded five in our history."

Lanni earlier had told the Associated Press that he was departing because it was "time for a younger generation, very frankly, to take on the responsibilities." I noted his resignation in this earlier post.

Lanni is a veteran casino executive who has been at the helm of MGM Mirage for 13 years. The company is majority-owned by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.

Photo: J. Terrence Lanni (Nelson Ching /Bloomberg News)