As you may recall, Sheldon Adelson and his wife donated nearly $92.8 million to outside political spending groups (including $23 million to Karl Rove’s super PAC American Crossroads), per the Center for Responsive Politics. First he backed Newt Gingrich’s failed campaign for president, and then Willard Romney’s. No one else even came close in terms of trying to buy influence.
And as you also may recall, Adelson is the 12th-richest American, with his wealth estimated at $20.5 billion. So all those donations were a mere drop in the bucket for him. According to this Wall Street Journal report, he plans to spend even more the next time around. If at first you don’t succeed, buy, buy again.
You may also recall that Adelson, who is under DOJ investigation, said President Obama would go after him, but Romney wouldn’t. Why is he in legal hot water?
Company of Newt Gingrich’s big donor, Sheldon Adelson, has alleged ties to bribes, Chinese mob.
Now, per the L.A. Times, the casino company Sheldon McBigBucks heads admits to “probably” breaking the law:
The Las Vegas casino company headed by high-profile Republican donor and billionaire Sheldon Adelson said it probably violated a federal law that prohibits the bribery of foreign government officials.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. said its auditors found that “there were likely violations” of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars Americans from bribing foreign officials to secure an advantage. The disclosure was made in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. [...]
Adelson’s company said it did not expect the findings to materially affect its finances or force it to restate financial results.
It must be nice to have enough money to buy your way out of legal problems and into political access and election outcomes.
Rachel Maddow does her usual great job of putting the complicated Sheldon Adelson-related story in context:
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