Sheldon Adelson testifies that Las Vegas Sands executives had no ulterior motives for sacking ex-Macau CEO

Billionaire and Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson was forced to take the stand in court for the third time to contest a case filed by Steven Jacobs, the ex-CEO of his Las Vegas Sands Macau Casino. The Las Vegas courtroom proceedings are to determine jurisdiction in the Steven Jacobs v. Las Vegas Sands wrongful termination lawsuit.

Jacobs was fired back in 2010 after Sheldon Adelson signed his termination letter citing non-performance and an inability to follow direct orders. Jacobs did not take his termination lying down but immediately filed a case against the Las Vegas Sands Corp stating that his dismissal was brought about due to the fact that he refused to follow orders from Adelson that he felt were illegal.

Jacobs reported that Adelson asked him to keep close tabs on high ranking officials in Macau and collect dirt on them. The reason for collecting such information, according to Jacobs,  was to use it at a later stage as a point of leverage in order to collect favors on behalf of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. Jacobs contends that he decided not to follow such orders and as a result was fired.

Adelson categorically denied all the accusations thrown at him and his Las Vegas Sands Corp. He stated the Las Vegas Sands Corp and its executives had no ulterior motives in dismissing Jacobs. Adelson has been in the stand for the last three days and he has been his usual self in trying to bulldoze the opposition. He cited 35 reasons as to why Jacobs was fired and said 34 of those reasons were extremely valid.

Jacobs lawyers often asked Adelson specific questions which he refused to answer stating that the time period in question was back in 2010 and he just did not remember the exact details to answer such questions. The prosecuting lawyers also asked Adelson why none of those 35 reasons were listed on Jacob’s termination letter. To which Adelson said “I wanted him to be fired for many months for many reasons. Period. When this case gets to the merits, and there are … (people) sitting in the jury box, the reasons will be discussed. And they’ll be backed up by experts that will say that any one of those reasons was sufficient.”

Adelson stated that Jacob was arrogant, outrageous and considered himself to be the be-all and end-all and such an attitude could not be further entertained. He also stated that this case was an attempt to blackmail the Las Vegas Sands Corp, something which Adelson would not tolerate.