One of the biggest Republican donors has cancer, his company said Thursday.
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp, is being treated for the side-effects of treatment for lymphoma and will return to work at full capacity when he has recovered.
“Mr. Adelson is still dealing with certain side effects from medication he is taking for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” company spokesman Ron Reese told the AP. “These side effects have restricted his availability to travel or keep regular office hours.”
GOP mega-donor has cancer
Adelson is a billionaire and major Republican donor. He donated $30 million dollars to President Trump’s campaign in 2016 and $100 million to Republicans in the last election.
His company said that Adelson’s illness hasn’t gotten in the way of his work as CEO and chairman of the company, and that he would return to work at full speed when he has recovered, but it has impacted his ability to travel and keep regular office hours. Adelson, who is the largest stakeholder in his company, has not been seen in his Las Vegas offices since Christmas.
The revelation of his illness comes after reports this week that he was dealing with a “dire” health condition that kept him from being present at the office, on conference calls, and in court. The Nevada Independent first reported that Adelson missed a fourth-quarter conference call on January 23 to discuss earnings, with company president Robert Goldstein saying Adelson was “under the weather.”
“We met with him yesterday,” Goldstein. “He’s taking some medications making him a bit drowsy, so he decided this morning to take a rain check on this one.”
Adelson was also expected to appear for court proceedings in a case dating from 2004 against his company brought by a Hong Kong casino operator Richard Suen, who argues that he is owed money from Sands after helping the company get business in the Chinese region of Macau. Adelson was present at two previous trials from Suen against his company in 2013 and 2008. When asked this week whether Adelson could be present for the next trial, attorney James Jimmerson revealed that he learned Adelson was in “dire” health last month.
Big donor
The mogul, together with his wife Miriam, is considered one of the biggest donors to Republican campaigns and causes. The couple donated millions of dollars to Republican campaigns and causes in the midterms.
Adelson’s company is the world’s biggest casino corporation, according to Bloomberg, and Adelson is worth some $33.9 billion.
They have also donated $500,000 to a legal defense fund for the targets of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Adelson is also an avid Israel supporter, and he sought the re-location of America’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which was eventually accomplished under President Donald Trump.
Trump awarded Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November.
Adelson also suffers from peripheral neuropathy, a neurological condition.
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