THINK PROGRESS
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who spent as much as $150 million on
independent expenditures to bolster Republicans in the 2012 election,
has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that his Las Vegas
Sands Corporation “likely violated a federal law against bribing foreign officials.”
“[T]here were likely violations of the books and records and internal
controls provisions” of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company
said in its annual regulatory report published on Friday.
Late last
year, Adelson reportedly held meetings
with at least one House GOP leader to discuss “possible changes to the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” arguing that he had been the target of
federal investigations under the Act as retribution for his strong
support for Republican candidates.
The Las Vegas Sands Corporation is suspected of improperly
and in some cases illegally bribing Chinese government officials to
expand its business in China. The company may have violated the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act with a $700,000 payment to a Chinese associate and
worked with organized crime gangs to drive business from mainland China
to their Macau casino.
Since the election, Adelson said that plans to double his contributions
to Republican candidates and with an estimated net worth of almost $25
billion, he could theoretically spend $500,000 on every single
Republican House and Senate nominee for the next 186 years.
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