Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson did not funnel illegal foreign contributions in the U.S. election campaign funds, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced.
The FEC on July 19 posted information showing a 5-0 ruling in favor of Adelson, following a similar recommendation by the FEC’s general counsel.
A complaint filed last year accused Adelson of using money raised through Las Vegas Sands’ Macau gaming operations to impact federal elections.
The report said the “available information, however, does not support drawing such a conclusion.”
Adelson in 2012 contributed up to $150 million on political campaigns, including more than $98 million donated to 34 candidates and committees.
The nonprofit Campaign for Accountability filed the complaint against Adelson. It filed the complaint after Ng Lap Seng of China was indicted for allegedly bribing a United Nations official in a matter unrelated to Adelson.
The Campaign for Accountability initially accused Adelson of being linked to organized crime, but later retracted its complaint and apologized to Adelson.
It claimed Ng acted as a messenger and middle-man on Adelson’s behalf while negotiating deals with Chinese officials in Macau.
Adelson’s attorney, Benjamin Ginsberg of the Jones Day law firm, called the complaint a “naked attempt to squelch a political opponent’s voice” and demanded its immediate dismissal, Bloomberg News reported.
Although the complaint had been retracted, the FEC still followed through with its investigation and says it would have sanctioned Adelson if wrongdoing had been found.
