Sheldon Adelson ended his six-year legal fight with the former head of his Macau casinos whose allegations of “outrageous and illegal” demands by the billionaire Las Vegas Sands Corp. chairman prompted a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
A confidential settlement was reached between Steven Jacobs and the company, according to a June 1 statement by Sands China Ltd. to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The case had been scheduled for trial this year in Las Vegas after Sands lost its latest petition to the Nevada Supreme Court to have the judge removed.
Jacobs sued in 2010 after he was ousted in a falling out with Adelson. He accused Adelson of directing him to collect evidence on Macau government officials that could be used to “exert leverage” on them to thwart regulation unfavorable to Sands casinos. Adelson has repeatedly denied Jacobs’s allegations and accused him of commissioning the investigation on his own accord.
The lawsuit led the SEC and Justice Department to probe whether Sands violated U.S. laws against bribing foreign officials. In April, Sands agreed to pay $9 million to settle the SEC’s claims it failed to properly document payments to a consultant facilitating business activities in China and Macau. The company didn’t admit wrongdoing as part of the accord.
The document is heavily redacted, but the message is clear. Elaine Wynn is trying to raise the stakes in her battle with ex-husband Steve Wynn over control of her share of Wynn Resorts Ltd.
Attorneys for Elaine Wynn late Monday filed a redacted version of her motion for approval to file a fifth amended counterclaim and crossclaim in her attempt to pry loose her 9.2-percent ownership interest in the casino company. The document was originally filed under seal March 10 and is part of a larger protracted legal dispute between Steve Wynn and former partner Kazuo Okada. In her lawsuit and media campaign, Elaine Wynn, who is president of the state Board of Education, accuses company co-founder, Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, of “using a public company to fund his lavish lifestyle and personal politics” and displaying “reckless, risk-taking behavior” that jeopardizes the corporation and exposes it to legal challenges.
Although much of the discovery in the case has been delayed and remains incomplete, the document states “the few depositions that have been taken in recent weeks — consisting mostly of Wynn Resort Directors — revealed new facts that were not previously disclosed to Ms. Wynn.” Among those directors deposed: former Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, longtime company insider D. Boone Wayson, Alvin Shoemaker and Ray Irani.
The latest filing increases the volume on her claim by citing redacted deposition testimony given under oath by Wynn Resorts corporate directors. The amended complaint alleges Steve Wynn and Wynn Resorts general counsel Kim Sinatra intentionally failed to disclose pertinent information to the board of directors. As a result, those directors “failed to apply appropriate governance standards.”
This motion was filed Monday in Clark County District Court by attorneys representing Steven C. Jacobs, a party in a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Las Vegas Sands Corp., Sands China Ltd. and Sheldon G. Adelson. A hearing on the motion is set for Feb. 18, and the case is scheduled to go to trial on June 27.
Wynn Las Vegas LLC has gone to court to challenge the $15.7 million fee it must pay to leave as a retail customer of Nevada Power Co. and secure its own energy supply on the wholesale market.
The gaming company filed a lawsuit Thursday in Clark County District Court against the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, which is requiring Wynn and two other gaming companies to pay $126.6 million in exit fees.
“The PUC has simply made up rules as it goes along so as to discourage any applicants from exiting bundled retail service,” the lawsuit alleges.
Exit fees approved by the commission in December are $86.9 million for MGM Resorts International, $23.9 million for Las Vegas Sands Corp. and $15.7 million for Wynn, plus recurring fees and charges to recover certain costs that cannot be quantified now.
The companies’ departures are the first in many years. The hotel-casinos relied on a 2001 law approved by the Nevada Legislature allowing companies to leave as utility customers to lessen pressures on electricity rates during an energy crisis.
Circumstances behind its passage no longer exist. Instead, energy prices are increasingly competitive, including those for natural gas. Large companies that exit are expected to be able to negotiate their own favorable rates for power.
Good grief, Schroeder. You’re back in the news.
And just when we thought we’d heard the last of the guy.
Fallout from the Adelson family’s December purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and its relationship with Connecticut newspaper publisher Michael Schroeder surfaced Tuesday morning in District Court in the bruising wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former Sands Macau casino executive Steve Jacobs.
The accusations are getting so ugly I’d suggest Schroeder consider changing his name, but look at all the trouble he got into the last time he tried that.
Under the pseudonym “Edward Clarkin,” Schroeder published a story Dec. 2 in his New Britain Herald newspaper that focused generally on business court but specifically and inaccurately attacked District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez in far-away Clark County. The article by our man in Connecticut was larded with arguably plagiarized material and questionable sourcing. It also failed to mention Schroeder was manager of the limited liability company that was purchasing the Review-Journal.
