Billionaire Adelson Maligns Accuser, Clashes With Judge

On May 1, casino owner Sheldon Adelson was on the stand in Nevada state court, on the attack against both the plaintiff attorney who is doing his best to keep Adelson in his sights and the judge on the case, Elizabeth Gonzalez. “Sir, you don’t get to argue with me,” the judge said at one point. The controversial Adelson is being sued by a former employee who claims he was fired for blowing the whistle on illegal company activities, allegedly including the blackmailing of officials in Macau and other activities in relation to Sands China, the Macau unit of Adelson’s casino empire. Adelson is best known as head of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and as a mega-contributor to Republican candidates, as well as a supporter of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the owner of two right-wing newspapers in Israel, including the largest circulation daily in the country. (It’s free.) In his court testimony, Adelson also took shots at the plaintiff, calling him “one of the least competent and potentially destructive executives I had in over 50 companies in my 69-year business career.”