Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson to face graft accusations in US court
Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson to face graft accusations in US court
The owner of Sands casino fails in his attempt to have allegations of links to Chinese organised crime aired in Macau
sheldon adelson
Las Vegas Sands boss Sheldon Adelson. Photograph: Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal/AP, Pool
Chris McGreal
Friday 22 May 2015 23.36 EDT
A judge in Las Vegas has ruled that a lawsuit involving accusations of graft and organised crime ties to casinos owned by the multibillionaire and Republican party funder, Sheldon Adelson, will be heard in the US.
The decision raises the prospect of Adelson facing difficult questions about his business practices following allegations by a former chief executive of his highly profitable casinos in the Chinese enclave of Macau that a well-known triad crime figure was used to bring in high-rolling gamblers and of influence peddling with Chinese officials.
The case potentially has implications for Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands casinos because evidence of ties to criminal organisations could cost them their gaming licences.
It could also have a bearing on the 81-year-old billionaire’s considerable political influence. He is estimated to have spent $150m in a failed bid to secure a Republican victory over Barack Obama in the last presidential election and is being vigorously courted by Republican candidates in the next race.
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Adelson and Las Vegas Sands wanted the lawsuit, which has been dragging through the courts since 2010, heard in Macau on the grounds that the casino operation there is independent of the Nevada-based parent company. But after hearings in which Jacobs’ lawyers portrayed the multibillionaire as very hands on in oversight of his Macau casinos from Las Vegas, Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ruled that the full case could be heard in the Nevada.
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