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.
Basically, Sheldon’s being accused of being mixed up with Chinese organized crime. If I were a suspicious sort of person I’d wonder if money from Chinese gangsters and corrupt Chinese government officials are ending up influencing our elections.
As John Cole says, “Will be fun watching the people hyperventilating about the Clinton Foundation rush to this scumbag’s defense.”
Whether it’s this sad and pathetic old mega-rich assclown, or one of America’s all time greatest assclowns, Donald Trump, if you’re in the gambling business, somewhere or other, some mob is involved in some way!
We may have made some inroads here in America in minimizing the open influence of mobsters in that regard since the height of the old Las Vegas, but we’ll never know how much – if any.
Gambling is a great way for criminal enterprises to launder money.
And Macau, is pretty much like the old Wild West, when it comes to corruption and gambling.
It’s a way for the Chinese Oligarchs to launder their ill-gotten gains.
Adelson is just a partner more than willing to take billions of dollars, for some of his gambling laundry-detergent.
And yeah, it’ll be fun to watch conservatives defend him, while blasting George Vowel-a-lot-alous for contributing $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
Of course, conservatives have no sense of shame or hypocrisy.
But at least we liberals can have a good time watching them twist themselves in pretzels and helixes that would make DNA go, “How do you guys f*ckin’ do THAT?!?!?!?!?!”
Tim Robbins needs to re-release his song from “Bob Roberts” adapted for today’s whining right wingers.
Some people have lots
Other people have more
But they complain and complain and complain and complain and complain.
Question is will this keep him from funding NeoConfederate ‘bags…
Since this is in Nevada, I suppose the court has a large budget for bodyguards. But if he’s taking on Adelson, he’d better be using the very best. Sheldon would hate to see some nasty accident befall that honest man, know what I mean?
Hi,
being Jewish is not easy, and as a filmmakers we I have made it our mission to tell engaging stories about prejudice, anti-semitism and xenophobia.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hide-and-seek-true-story-about-anti-semitism
That is why we have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the film so we can remember and honor the horrible past.
Could you please help us and share this important campaign on your site?
The “Hide and Seek” movie tells the story which has two levels – superficial and substantial. The title and the fact that the main characters are two children allow us to mistakenly conclude that the movie refers only to a trivial childhood fun. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a story about fear, war traumas and the strength of motherly love, which is the strongest of feelings
We started working on “Hide and Seek” nearly three years ago. It is based on facts and a truly moving script. In a universal way it shows the consequences of anti-semitism which is becoming more common in modern Europe and also around the world. The Writer and the director PaweÅ‚ Jóźwik is not afraid to talk about this awkward topic. Some people would rather stay silent. His difficult, but very important project attracted many well-known Polish artists. Meny prominent actors expressed their willingness to participate in the film, among others: Agnieszka Grochowska, Wojciech Zielinski, Mariusz Drężek or Henryk Niebudek. Jan Kidawa – BÅ‚oÅ„ski, a valued polish film director became the artistic supervisor of the project. Leszek Rybarczyk from the Odeon Studio supervised the film production. Our friends guaranteed us help on the set thanks to whom the filming costs were significantly reduced. Unfortunately not to zero. This is the reason of taking up the challenge called crowdfundingowa campaign.
The filming is expensive so the aim of the campaign is to collect $ 35,000, which will be used to create epoch-making stage design, costumes and equipment rental for 10 days of shooting. The subject is historical and extremely gentle, stirrs up strong feelings and conflicting emotions. This is the main reason, why most of the potential sponsors refused to cooperate. In consequence, the filmmakers decided to start a crowdfunding campaign. We would like to give each of us chance to evaluate idividually and support the project through the indiegogo.com portal.
You can find more details about the movie on the campaign website Indiegogo.
LINK: http://igg.me/at/hidenseek
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I would be most grateful if you would look into this matter.
Classic pay-to-play. They will resist to the death an any move to erect a wall of separation between big money and politics. However legal the Clinton Foundation donations may have been, the question of paying the Foundation in order to have future close access IS valid.
Democrats are tying themselves into various shapes defending Clinton and the quest to raise 2 Billion for herr campaign. We should be defending her on issues where she’s closer to correct than any of the GOP candidates but questioning FROM THE LEFT – the sources of funds in ALL campaigns.
I wish we would limit the campaign to a set period as they do in France and limit each candidate the same amount of money. That way they would have to get their message out clearly and we could compare the efficiency of their campaigns as a way of judging how they would manage public funds.
I know, I slipped into Never-Never Land for a moment. Having a “message” is so mid century modern. Now, it’s just about how a candidate can spend the maximum amount of time and money in continuous campaign mode while ALEC or some similar entity writes legislation and provides the agenda.
“Basically, Sheldon’s being accused of being mixed up with Chinese organized crime”
Well sure, he certainly is mixed up in organized crime here in the US, GOP presidential politics! I hope this shmuck spends his last few days toiling away at a scorching hot prison in a Nevada desert somewhere!
“Gambling is a great way for criminal enterprises to launder money”
Gulag starting a 501 C something is running a close second. Take all that ill-gotten cash from organized crime and prostitution and launder it through a campaign staff, TeeVee advertisements, etc, its all secret so everybody wins (except our democracy)!
Reality throws a significant fly into the Libertarian and conservative ointment. In essence, their economic and political model makes political power, and just about everything else into a commodity, to be purchased by those with the means to do so. The manner in which a powerful figure or institution acquired their resources is inconsequential, especially once they have a purchased their share of the government.
Most of the time money is easier to make if you are willing to bend the rules or break the law. So the accretion of power tends towards those who are less encumbered by ethical concerns. If anything goes awry, they’ve already purchased their “get out of jail free” card.
I’m with Doug. If HRC can manage to be more open and say what is real, instead of just smiling and pretending everyone likes her, she will do better. She comes across as a figurehead to me, with no genuine discussion. I realize that she is a prisoner of the press conference/media/gotcha ReTeaVangeliKlan and the shifting of the daily sands. If Bernie Sanders can bring up things that clarify Democrats as more advantageous, and if HRC can endorse them intelligently and with guts, she can do well. IF she tries to be Republican lite, which is how she strikes many people, she will not increase voter interest. If she shows some populism and commits to it, she can draw votes. She should have no problem rejecting some of Bill’s policies, saying time and brains always create new awarenesses. That alone will leave her above the current mess of R’s claiming to love Reagan and trying not to be tarred by W.
“those who are less encumbered by ethical concerns”
Goatherd, what a delightful way to describe a money grubbing criminal ratf#cker!