A self-described watchdog organization wants federal leaders to investigate Las Vegas Sands Corp. and its CEO Sheldon Adelson over alleged connections to Chinese organized crime.
The Campaign for Accountability announced on Tuesday that it asked two public bodies in Washington, D.C., to look into whether the alleged ties to crime are introducing “illegally laundered foreign funds” into American politics via campaign contributions. The group claims that Adelson, a major Republican donor, and his company maintain business relationships that are associated with organized crime in Macau.
Sands spokesman Ron Reese dismissed the campaign’s claims as a political attack and said they had been successfully countered in the past.
“These tactics were tried and repudiated before,” Reese said. “This is clearly a classic political stunt.”
The campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission and sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Its exhibits encompass hundreds of pages in total and include some internal company documents.
In the campaign’s statement announcing its actions, Executive Director Anne Weismann referenced Adelson’s sizable wealth and political influence, calling him one of the largest political donors "if not the largest political donor in history.”
Adelson reportedly spent at least $100 million to help the Republican Party in the 2012 election. His company owns the Venetian and Palazzo on the Strip but gets most of its revenue from Macau, where it has multiple casinos.
“Federal authorities have long been concerned about the reach of the tentacles of Chinese organized crime,” Weismann said in the statement. “If triad money is winding up in the campaign coffers of U.S. politicians through Mr. Adelson’s contributions, the American people deserve to know it.”
Macau has proven to be a lucrative area for Sands to be involved with in the past, but lately it has been much more challenging for American casino companies with a presence there. The market has experienced 17 straight months of year over year declines in gaming revenue as the Chinese government’s crackdown on corruption has hurt business from high rollers.