Wynn defeated the lawsuit in October when a federal judge in Washington, DC said the casino tycoon could not be ordered to register with the justice department as a foreign agent of China.

“The attorney general of the US hereby appeals to the US Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia from the judgment of this court entered on the 12th day of Oct, 2022, granting defendant’s motion to dismiss,” the justice department said in a filing on Friday.

The justice department in May sued for a court order forcing Steve Wynn, the former chief executive officer of Wynn Casinos, to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Officials alleged that Wynn had lobbied then-US president Donald Trump on China’s behalf in 2017.

Wynn’s attorneys denied that he was ever an agent of the Chinese government.

US district judge James Boasberg said in October that because any relationship between Wynn and the Chinese government ended in 2017, the Republican donor cannot be required to register as an agent.

The judge pointed to past precedent in DC federal court in making the ruling.

The judge said he was not determining whether Wynn had lobbied on China’s behalf. He also said the justice department could pursue criminal sanctions against Wynn for failing to disclose the alleged lobbying, if the statute of limitations had not expired.