Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and top Mitt Romney backer, is suing a Wall Street Journal reporter for libel over an article published in December.
The article, written by Kate O'Keeffe, described the fight between Adelson and his former head of Macau casino operations Steve Jacobs, who filed a wrongful termination suit. It characterized Adelson as "a scrappy, foul-mouthed billionaire from working-class Dorchester, Mass." in comparison to Jacobs, "a 6-foot-5-inch-tall Ivy League graduate who colleagues say rarely curses."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Adelson is seeking "damages, including aggravated, exemplary and special damages," according to the lawsuit. The newspaper will represent O'Keeffe, with a spokesperson saying, "We will vigorously defend Ms. O'Keeffe in this lawsuit."
This is not the first time Adelson has sued someone for libel. In a similar situation in August 2012, Adelson threatened to sue the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee over allegations that he knew about prostitution at his company's properties in Macau. A lawyer for Adelson alleged that the organization had been "maliciously branding Mr. Adelson as a pimp," and the DCCC later retracted its allegations. Adelson also filed a claim against the Jewish Democratic Council for repeating the same rumors.
Thomson Reuters' Allison Frankel has a list of Adelson's extensive libel suits, writing that he "brought at least three previous libel cases" before those two in 2012.
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Posted: 02/25/2013 4:32 pm EST | Updated: 02/25/2013 4:54 pm EST