June 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission

Chair Lina Khan should be allowed to investigate MGM Resort's

data-protection practices even though she was a guest at the

hotel giant in Las Vegas around the time of an alleged

cybersecurity breach last year, the agency said in a court

filing.

The FTC disputed MGM's suggestion that Khan could

technically be a witness or even become a private plaintiff over

the breach. MGM has no plausible claim of potential bias, and

Khan should not be forced to sit on the sidelines as the FTC

probes the casino operator's data and privacy safeguards, the

Monday filing said.

MGM sued the FTC in Washington, D.C., in April, claiming its

investigation into the hack exceeded its authority and asking

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to disqualify Khan.

The FTC on Tuesday declined to comment. MGM did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FTC has asked a U.S. judge in Nevada to enforce the

agency's demand for information from MGM.

MGM separately faces a wave of class actions over the cyber

breach.

MGM in its lawsuit cited news media accounts that said Khan

and a senior aide were guests at an MGM property when the breach

occurred. Khan, according to MGM's filing, was asked to write

her credit card number on paper when checking in because there

was no functioning electronic system.

MGM said it was soon afterward hit with a demand from the

FTC for "100 categories" of information related to the breach.

In its lawsuit, MGM told the court that Khan should "not be

involved in commission decisions regarding a matter in which she

has a personal interest in the outcome."

The FTC countered that Khan "apparently arrived at the MGM

Las Vegas hotel after the data breach had occurred" and so her

personal information would not have been exposed.

"Chair Khan is thus not one of the consumer victims of the

MGM data breach and cannot be part of any plaintiff class

claiming such injury," the agency's filing said.

Khan has faced unsuccessful bids by other companies to

disqualify her from FTC actions.

In one matter, Boasberg in 2022 said Khan's prior statements

about Meta's Facebook did not disqualify her from the agency's

case accusing the company of monopolizing the market for

personal social networking services.

The case is MGM Resorts ( MGM ) v. Federal Trade Commission, U.S.

District Court for the District of Columbia, No.

1:24-cv-01066-JDB.

For MGM: Brian Boyle, Andrew Sacks and Brett Feldman of DLA

Piper

For FTC: Brenda González Horowitz of the U.S. attorney's

office; and Imad Abyad of the FTC

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