Sheldon Adelson is a major benefactor for the GOP and in fact kept Gingrich's campaign alive in 2012 primary. He donated over $60 million to GOP candidates, including Romney.
He and his corporation, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, are under multi-level government scrutiny as they have now admitted to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in their business dealings in China.
From the article:
The Sands activities in China came under the scrutiny of federal investigators after 2010, when Steven C. Jacobs, the former president of the companys operations in Macau filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit in which he charged that he had been pressured to exercise improper leverage against government officials. He also accused the company of turning a blind eye toward Chinese organized crime figures operating in its casinos.
Mr. Adelson began his push into China over a decade ago, after the authorities began offering a limited number of gambling licenses in Macau, a semiautonomous archipelago in the Pearl River Delta that is the only place in the country where casino gambling is legal.
But as with many lucrative business spheres in China, the gambling industry on Macau is laced with corruption. Companies must rely on the good will of Chinese officials to secure licenses and contracts. Officials control even the flow of visitors, many of whom come on government-run junkets from the mainland.
As he maneuvered to enter Macaus gambling market, Mr. Adelson, who is well known in the United States for his financial and political clout, became enmeshed in often intertwining political and business dealings. At one point he reportedly intervened on behalf of the Chinese government to help stall a House resolution condemning the countrys bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics on the basis of its human rights record.
In 2004, he opened his first casino there, the Sands Macau, the enclaves first foreign owned gambling establishment. This was followed by his $2.4 billion Venetian in 2007.
Some Sands subsidiaries have also come under investigation by Chinese authorities for violations that included using money for business purposes not reported to the authorities, resulting in fines of over a million dollars.
Success in Macau has made Mr. Adelson, 78, one of the richest people in the world. He and his wife, Miriam, own 53.2 percent of Las Vegas Sands, the worlds biggest casino company by market value. Last year, Forbes estimated his fortune at $24.9 billion.
Mr. Adelson became the biggest single donor in political history during the 2012 presidential election, giving more than $60 million to eight Republican candidates, including Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, through super PACs He presides over a global empire of casinos, hotels and convention centers.
In Filing, Casino Operator Admits Likely Violation of an Antibribery Law (Published 2013)
Question VN conservatives and GOP big money apologists: What does it say about the GOP when they are willing to take so much money from a guy who is in bed with both the Chinese government and Chinese organized crime?:
