Adelson and the chinese mob. Nobody cares about this?
by digby
I realize that Bill and Hillary Clinton are history's biggest monsters for taking money from foreigners for charitable work in foreign countries. But can someone explain to me why it's ok that all the GOP candidates are supplicating themselves and jockeying for favor from this man like they're 18th century sheik's concubines?
Sheldon Adelson, the multibillionaire casino magnate and key Republican party donor, spent four combative days in a Las Vegas court this week defending his gambling empire from accusations of bribery and ties to organised crime.
By the time the hearing was over, Adelson had argued with the judge, contradicted the evidence of his own executives and frustrated his lawyers by revealing more information than he was required to in response to simple yes or no questions. But most importantly, far from laying the allegations against his Las Vegas Sands conglomerate to rest, the billionaire’s answers threw up yet more questions which he is likely to have to return to court to answer.
On the court docket, the case is merely a wrongful dismissal suit. The former CEO of Adelson’s highly profitable casinos in the Chinese enclave of Macau, Steven Jacobs, is suing because he claims to have been sacked for trying to break links to organised crime groups, the triads, and for attempting to halt alleged influence peddling with Chinese officials.
But the extent of what is at stake for Adelson was evident in the form of the Nevada gaming board official monitoring the case from the public gallery.
Adelson accused Jacobs of “squealing like a pig to the government” and of blackmail in taking his accusations to the US authorities. They include the allegation that Las Vegas Sands paid what amounted to bribes intended to influence the Macau authorities and the government in Beijing and that the casino did business with a notorious triad leader.
The information Jacobs provided to the authorities prompted continuing investigations by the US Justice Department and federal financial regulators. If these allegations are shown to be true, then Adelson’s gambling licences could be in jeopardy because associations with organised crime could prompt action by Nevada’s gambling authorities, always sensitive to Las Vegas’s history with the mafia. That in turn may threaten the huge sums of money Adelson feeds into the Republican party. He is estimated to have spent $150m to try to secure a Republican victory over Barack Obama in the last presidential election.
The Las Vegas court hearing that ended on Thursday was called to decide where the full case should be heard – the US or Macau. That restricted the questions that could be asked of Adelson. But if the judge rules that the case belongs in an American court, then the 81-year-old billionaire will face some difficult questions raised by his testimony. Those are likely to be reinforced by internal company documents obtained by the Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) at the University of California, Berkeley, which appear to undermine some of Adelson’s statements in the witness box.
Talk about dirty money. This guy is in bed with the Chinese mob and he's issuing orders to these GOP candidates like he owns them. And they're not begging for this money to help anyone but themselves and their highly paid political consultants.
This doesn't even raise an eyebrow:
According to National Review, Adelson was angry over Bush’s refusal to instruct one of his foreign policy advisers, former secretary of state James Baker, not to deliver a speech to the leftist Jewish lobby J Street during its annual convention in Washington.
Baker, a longtime friend and confidante of the Bush family, is a critic of Israel’s current government and its policies. Adelson, meanwhile, is a backer of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the owner of the pro-Netanyahu daily newspaper Israel Hayom.
Bush’s defiance of Adelson may cost him any chance of procuring campaign donations from the Jewish casino billionaire. Recently, Republican presidential hopefuls took part in part in what is known as “the Sheldon primary,” a four-day event staged by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas.
GOP candidates were seeking to curry favor with Adelson, competing amongst themselves over which of them offers the strongest support for Israel.
“I think he’s lost the Sheldon primary,” one Republican source told National Review.
Jeb, as you know, has now bent over backwards to mend that rift.
Nobody thinks anything of this sort of influence buying by a crook who has made much of his ill-gotten gains by consorting with criminals. He's right up front, demanding that these candidates dance to his tune.
I just don't get it.
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