MGM Resorts sues to halt probe that began after massive hack prompted a hotel clerk to ask the FTC chair for her credit card number

The company said the investigation deprives it of its fundamental due process rights and that FTC Chair Lina Khan should recuse herself from the case, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington federal court Monday. 

Bloomberg earlier reported that Khan was visiting MGM Grand on the Las Vegas strip in September when the company was hit by a cyberattack that temporarily shut down its computer systems. A front desk clerk asked Khan and her staff to write down their credit card information on a piece of paper as they were checking into the hotel, according to Bloomberg. Khan responded by asking the employee how MGM was managing data security in this situation. 

Shortly after, the FTC started an investigation and in January demanded that the company respond to how it handled the situation, according to the lawsuit. The agency asked the company to hand over more than “100 categories of information.”

The company also claimed that the FTC relied on “inapplicable” regulations that apply only to financial services companies to demand information from the casino operator.

FTC representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FTC earlier denied the company’s request that Khan recuse herself from involvement in the investigation given her personal experience with the cyberattack. 

“As the most high-profile person involved in the events at issue — and the only such person widely identified by name in press reports — Chair Khan is both a potential civil plaintiff and a potential witness,” attorneys for the company wrote in the lawsuit.