November 3, 2015
By Daniel Stevens
Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA) (click here) asked the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Federal Election Commission to investigate Sheldon Adelson and the Las Vegas Sands Corporation's (LVS) ties to Chinese organized crime in its Macau operations and determine whether illegally laundered foreign funds are making their way into the campaign coffers of American politicians.
Internal company documents show that LVS maintains a business relationship with a Cheung Chi Tai, identified as the leader of a triad – a Chinese organized crime ring – by the Senate committee in the early 1990s. LVS also has a relationship with Ng Lap Seng, a Chinese billionaire currently facing criminal charges in the Southern District of New York. Mr. Ng is described in a report commissioned by LVS as a member of a triad and as controlling prostitution in Macau.
CfA Executive Director Anne Weismann stated, "Sheldon Adelson is one of the largest if not the largest political donor in history. Federal authorities have long been concerned about the reach of the tentacles of Chinese organized crime. 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."...
July 7, 2013
By Hannah Dreier
Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, second right, and his wife, Miriam Ochsorn, right, look at a model of the Sands Cotai Central resort during a news conference in Macau on Wednesday, April 12, 2012 to announce the launch of the $4.4-billion complex in Macau, a special administrative region of China. Photo by The Associated Press.
...The center of the gambling world (click here) has shifted 16 time zones away to a tiny spit of land on the southern tip of East Asia.
An hour’s ferry ride from Hong Kong and an afternoon flight from half the world’s population, Macau is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
Each month, 2.5 million tourists flood the glitzy boomtown to try their luck in neon-drenched casinos that collect more winnings than the entire U.S. gambling industry. The exploding ranks of the Chinese nouveau riche sip tea and speak in hushed tones as they play at baccarat, a fast-moving game where gamblers are dealt two cards and predict whether they will beat the banker.
The textile factories that stood shoulder to shoulder with small-time gambling halls as recently as the early 2000s have given way to hulking American-run enterprises larger than anything found in the states. The gangs, prostitutes and money-launderers that once operated openly in this town half the size of Manhattan have at least receded from public eye.
“It was a swamp,” said Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands, as he looked back on his early, risky venture in the forgotten colonial outpost.
“They wanted to change the face of Macau from the gambling dens to that of conventions and resorts,” he added during recent testimony, flashing a jack-o-lantern grin and boasting that it would have taken a genius to imagine the profits that he could reap there....
By Daniel Stevens
Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA) (click here) asked the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Federal Election Commission to investigate Sheldon Adelson and the Las Vegas Sands Corporation's (LVS) ties to Chinese organized crime in its Macau operations and determine whether illegally laundered foreign funds are making their way into the campaign coffers of American politicians.
Internal company documents show that LVS maintains a business relationship with a Cheung Chi Tai, identified as the leader of a triad – a Chinese organized crime ring – by the Senate committee in the early 1990s. LVS also has a relationship with Ng Lap Seng, a Chinese billionaire currently facing criminal charges in the Southern District of New York. Mr. Ng is described in a report commissioned by LVS as a member of a triad and as controlling prostitution in Macau.
CfA Executive Director Anne Weismann stated, "Sheldon Adelson is one of the largest if not the largest political donor in history. Federal authorities have long been concerned about the reach of the tentacles of Chinese organized crime. 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."...
By Hannah Dreier
Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, second right, and his wife, Miriam Ochsorn, right, look at a model of the Sands Cotai Central resort during a news conference in Macau on Wednesday, April 12, 2012 to announce the launch of the $4.4-billion complex in Macau, a special administrative region of China. Photo by The Associated Press.
...The center of the gambling world (click here) has shifted 16 time zones away to a tiny spit of land on the southern tip of East Asia.
An hour’s ferry ride from Hong Kong and an afternoon flight from half the world’s population, Macau is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
Each month, 2.5 million tourists flood the glitzy boomtown to try their luck in neon-drenched casinos that collect more winnings than the entire U.S. gambling industry. The exploding ranks of the Chinese nouveau riche sip tea and speak in hushed tones as they play at baccarat, a fast-moving game where gamblers are dealt two cards and predict whether they will beat the banker.
The textile factories that stood shoulder to shoulder with small-time gambling halls as recently as the early 2000s have given way to hulking American-run enterprises larger than anything found in the states. The gangs, prostitutes and money-launderers that once operated openly in this town half the size of Manhattan have at least receded from public eye.
“It was a swamp,” said Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands, as he looked back on his early, risky venture in the forgotten colonial outpost.
“They wanted to change the face of Macau from the gambling dens to that of conventions and resorts,” he added during recent testimony, flashing a jack-o-lantern grin and boasting that it would have taken a genius to imagine the profits that he could reap there....
