Courtroom isn’t Sheldon Adelson’s comfort zone

Just days after holding court at his personal presidential primary, Sheldon Adelson last week found himself in court answering sensitive questions about his lucrative Macau casino empire.

The Republican Party mega-donor has ridden record-breaking success in Macau to become one of the world’s wealthiest men. He’s also watching the foundations of the astronomically lucrative Asian gaming market fracture under the weight of an ongoing anti-corruption campaign by the Chinese government that has slowed the flow of gamblers to Macau to a trickle and sent casino profits tumbling in the process.

Instead of basking in his wealth or the warm glow of adulation from Republican presidential hopefuls, Adelson on Tuesday was escorted by his security team into District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez’s courtroom. He underwent a patient, incisive and costly examination by attorney James Pisanelli, co-counsel for former Sands China Ltd. President Steve Jacobs, in a draining hearing to establish jurisdiction in a wrongful termination lawsuit whose troubling issues have reverberated from Las Vegas to China.

While Macau casino stocks continue their precipitous swan dive — Wynn Resorts, for instance, lost $2 billion in value in a single trading day this past week — Adelson was stuck on a witness stand that might as well have been a dentist’s chair with Dr. Pisanelli at the drill. The casino mogul, gifted in so many ways, attempted to distance himself from having day-to-day influence over his Macau operations, but in the end made Pisanelli’s job pretty easy.

In fairness, it was a little like playing tennis without a net. Adelson’s attorneys, short-leashed by Judge Gonzalez for their ethical lapses, could only sit and listen to their objections be overruled as Pisanelli allowed Adelson to talk his way into trouble.

Pisanelli’s simplest inquiries managed to elicit lengthy responses. Adelson’s own lawyers failed to slow him up.

“He doesn’t have a question pending,” Sands China lawyer Randall Jones said to the pugnacious but loquacious witness.

Adelson squirmed when a February 2010 email from his then-No. 2 man, Michael Leven, was read extolling Jacobs’ virtues: “The Titanic hit the iceberg. He arrived and not only saved the passengers, he saved the ship.”

Jacobs was fired months later, he alleges, after he refused to participate in improper corporate practices. Adelson called him “delusional” and at one point called Jacobs a “squealer,” a word not often heard outside George Raft gangster flicks, for reporting alleged wrongdoing to the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Justice.

“He was one of the least competent and potentially destructive executives I had in over 50 companies in my 69-year business career,” Adelson said.

Perhaps. But Leven sang Jacobs’ praises, and at one point the SCL executive compensation committee wanted to lavish 2.5 million stock options on him.

“I did not give Mr. Leven authority to issue 2.5 million shares,” Adelson said. “I have no such recollection.”

Leven, it must be noted, remained in Adelson’s good graces after Jacobs departed the company and sued for wrongful termination.

Adelson also predicted the imminent ouster of current SCL independent non-executive director David Muir Turnbull, another of Jacobs’ fans. “Turnbull is not going to be on our board very long,” Adelson said.

Will the applicable corporate governance regulators be intrigued by that tidbit of SCL news?

Although its casinos set records in Macau, and it’s incorporated in the Cayman Islands, it became more obvious this past week in a Las Vegas courtroom that Sands China Ltd.’s true headquarters are wherever Sheldon Adelson lays his head.

From moving a restaurant inside the distant casino to negotiating with gaming regulators 8,000 miles from Southern Nevada, Adelson appears to keep a keen eye on the action from day to day.

During his testimony, Adelson repeatedly said that Jacobs’ incompetence would be revealed when the merits of the case were argued.

“When we get into the real merits of the case, all these things will come out,” Adelson said.

That time appears to be getting closer, and it’s starting to look like Las Vegas might be the place.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. Find him on Twitter: @jlnevadasmith