Nevada District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez has slapped a $250, 000 fine on Sands China Ltd, the Macau branch of Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp, for withholding documents regarding a wrongful termination suit brought by former Sands China president and chief executive Steve Jacobs, Ggrasia reported.
Sands China was also ordered to cover some of Jacobs’ legal costs.
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Sands China says it’s going to appeal the decision.
On January 6, 2015, Judge Gonzalez ruled that Jacobs could use the records of an investigation of Macau government officials, supposedly ordered by Sheldon Adelson, could be used by Jacobs’ attorneys, as long as they didn’t publicize their contents.
So far, Adelson denies he ever commissioned the investigation, saying it was all Steve Jacobs’ idea.
Jacobs was fired in July 2010 over an allegation of an unauthorized deal making, which he denied making.
In October 2010, Jacobs sued Las Vegas Sands and Sands China in for breach of contract and breach of good faith.
His lawyers demanded access to thousands of emails and other documents from the Macau casino, which Las Vegas Sands argued the Nevada court did not have jurisdiction over, since Sands China, as the name suggests, is located in China.
In 2012, Judge Gonzalez ruled that she had jurisdiction, since the documents in question had been sent from Macau to the U.S. by the defendants so their attorneys could look at them.
Lawyers aren’t as smart sometimes.
