Bad week for Sheldon Adelson
Not a good week for the billionaire casino owner
Sheldon Adelson has not had a good week, firstly he lost his fight against Richard Suen and ordered to pay $70 million. The court battle with the Hong Kong businessman goes back nine years when Mr Suen is said to have helped in securing a gaming license for Sands in Macau, to which the company was supposed to pay him $328 million.
The Sands lawyers said that Mr Suen did not deserve any payment as he did not come through with making good on his promise in delivering the license, the jury disagreed, however it is already expected to go to appeal, so Mr Suen will not be seeing that money any time soon.
On another separate case, involving Mr Adelson suing the National Jewish Democratic Council for $60 million regarding an article on its website saying that the casino mogul condoned prostitution in his casinos in Macau.
The website article then went and tried to persuade leading republicans looking for donations from the well-known supporter not to accept as the money would be “dirty” and “tainted” money.
It cited reports about an accusation that the Las Vegas Sands Corp chief executive “personally approved of prostitution” in his Macau properties.
U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken in Manhattan on Monday said the article constituted protected speech and was not libelous. The accusation, which Adelson has denied, had surfaced in a wrongful termination lawsuit against him by fired Las Vegas Sands executive Steven Jacobs. It was discussed in an Associated Press article about that lawsuit, to which the NJDC provided a hyperlink in its article online.
