According to the charges the casino mogul acquired high roller clients with the help of a triad crime figure and that he also kept several Chinese officials under his influence.
Sheldon Adelson, the CEO and president of Las Vegas Sands is often called "The Antichrist of Poker" in the poker community. He has been fighting the legalization of online gambling for years, claiming that there is no reason for online gambling to exist, and if online gambling is legalized, the government might aswell legalize prostitution and drug dealing.
Adelson’s wealth makes him very influential in the political side of the online gambling world (he has been backing several Republican politicians for years), but his business practices have earned him an investigation from the federal government.
According to Guardian, he has been accused of bribery and organized crime. A former chief executive, who used to work at Adelson’s highly profitable Chinese casinos in Macau claimed that Adelson has used a known triad crime figure to bring in high roller customers and that he also had a lot of influence over Chinese officials.
This is not the first time that Adelson’s business practices have been investigated, in August 2013 Las Vegas Sands paid out $47.7 million in an out of court settlement to drop charges of money laundering against the company.
The case could have implications for Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands casinos aswell, if the government proves that he is connected to figures of the organized crime world, all of his casinos could lose their gambling license.
