The political watchdog group Campaign for Accountability (CfA) has requested that the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs along with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands (LVS) for potentially filtering foreign laundered money to American politicians.

The CfA sent letters to the two government organizations this week after evidence was unearthed that LVS casinos in Macau had strong links to Chinese organized crime groups known as triads. The revelation came during what was supposed to be a relatively mundane wrongful termination suit filed by former Sands Macau President Steven Jacobs against his former employer and Adelson (pictured).

The trial took place in Nevada despite objections by LVS attorneys who preferred that it be heard in Macau. But after a judge was made aware of Adelson’s hands-on management style of his Macau casinos, they saw fit to try it in a Nevada court.

In the courtroom, internal Sands documents obtained by the plaintiff laid bare the casino’s connections to several junkets run by well-known organized crime figures.

LVS allegedly does business with Cheung Chi Tai, a man whom US government reports identified in the 1990s as the leader of the Wo Hop To Triad. More recently, Cheung was the head of a casino junket operator that specialized in bringing wealthy gamblers from China in exchange for a commission on their losses.

Public record shows that Cheung also played a part in a murder-for-hire scheme and faces money laundering charges in Hong Kong. Sands maintain that it had stopped doing business with the alleged triad leader, but company documents reveal that LVS maintains a relationship with Cheung to this day.

Adelson also has connections with Ng Lap Seng, a Chinese billionaire who was said to have funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic National Committee in the 1990s. In a report commissioned by LVS itself, Ng, who currently faces criminal charges in the Southern District of New York, is described as a member of a triad who was used as a conduit through which the casino could bribe the Chinese government.

Jacobs says that he repeatedly advised executives to stop doing business with known crime figures. In one case, Jacobs alerted staff that an improper payment of $700,000 was to be sent to Macau lawyer and legislator Leonel Alves, three times his normal fee. Jacobs canceled the company’s contract with Alves, but Adelson later put him back on the payroll discreetly.

In the 2012 election cycle, Adelson donated nearly $150 million to GOP candidates in an attempt to unseat President Barack Obama. For that reason, CfA wants to know if the gambling magnate has used tainted cash from overseas to fund his political causes.

“Sheldon Adelson is one of the largest, if not the largest political donor in history,” said CfA Executive Director Anne Weismann. “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 US politicians through Mr. Adelson’s contributions, the American people deserve to know it.”

The Campaign for Accountability believes that LVS Macau is steeped in corruption and that it’s “highly likely” that laundered money has made its way into the US political system. “Unfortunately for all of the candidates and causes Mr. Adelson has showered with cash, what happens in Macau doesn’t stay in Macau,” said Weismann.

Adelson, who made his fortune through his Macau casinos, is one of the world’s wealthiest men. But with Chinese authorities cracking down on corruption in the tiny gambling enclave, gaming revenue has taken a nosedive and has forced many junkets to close their doors.

Adelson is also leading the charge against legalized online poker in the US, promising to spend “whatever it takes” to eradicate the game, including in the three states where it’s already regulated. He formed the Coalition Against Internet Gambling and remains highly vocal against the industry.

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