President Obama’s campaign put the spotlight on casino mogul Sheldon Adelson in a fundraising email sent in the wake of reports that the Justice Department is investigating his company on possible money laundering charges.
“If we don’t step it up, we’re in trouble, because we’re up against billionaires and super PACs that are funneling unprecedented amounts of money to defeat President Obama in this election,” the campaign said. That note accompanied a graphic that said “188,679 grassroots donors with a $53 average gift = one Sheldon Adelson with a $10,000,000 pledge.”
The Obama team’s message dovetailed conveniently with reports that Department of Justice “is investigating whether Las Vegas Sands Corp., owned by high-profile Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, broke federal law by failing to reportmillions of dollars of potentially laundered money transferred to its casinos by two high-rolling Las Vegas gamblers.”
The Wall Street Journal noted that “there is no indication that Adelson is a target in the money-laundering probe.”
