Republican mega-donor's firm accused of 'directing' prostitution at its casinos

A former executive at the Las Vegas Sands Corp. Steve Jacobs, has filed a wrongful termination suit in which he accuse the company of "controlling and directing" prostitution at its Macau casinos.

The charges are politically significant because the company's chairman, billionaire Sheldon Adelson, has been perhaps the most generous GOP donor of the current campaign cycle. He has promised to supply "limitless" funds to defeat President Barack Obama, much of which would be channeled through 501(c)(4) non-profits that do not divulge the names of their donors.

Adelson's donations appear to be inspired in large part by his close personal friendship with Israel's conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his opposition to any kind of two-state solution for the Palestinian territories.

According to RightWeb, "Adelson received widespread public attention during the 2012 U.S. presidential race because of his massive donations to groups backing the campaigns of Newt Gingrich and later Mitt Romney, as well as to the Karl Rove-backed Crossroads GPS and PACs linked to the billionaires Charles and David Koch and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). The New York Times estimated in June 2012 that all told, Adelson and his spouse had already donated $60 million during the 2012 election cycle."

Adelson's donations have drawn the ire of Senator John McCain, who charged in a June 2012 interview that "Much of Mr. Adelson's casino profits that go to him come from his casino in Macau, which says that obviously, maybe in a roundabout way foreign money is coming into an American political campaign."

In a statement issues on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Sands Corp. called the prostitution allegations "baseless," noting that "Mr. Adelson has always objected to and maintained a strong policy against prostitution on our properties" and calling Jacobs' charges "a blatant and reprehensible personal attack on Mr. Adelson's character."

Photo by Bectrigger (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons