A Nevada state court judge in Las Vegas has turned down a request by Las Vegas Sands to bar television and still cameras from recording the testimony of Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson in the Richard Suen trial.
In closed-door arguments this week before Clark County District Judge Rob Bare, lawyers for Las Vegas Sands together with the company’s head of global security said photographing the billionaire posed a danger to his safety. The company carted out no less than famed civil rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz to plead its case.
Judge Bare wasn’t convinced.
“What better way to demonstrate to the public that its courts are fair and just than to say to the public, ‘Come and view the proceedings yourself and judge for yourself,’” he said in a statement read to the court on Tuesday by an attorney representing the Las Vegas Review-Journal and two local TV stations.
Media representatives and attorneys for Mr Suen argued that Mr Adelson has been in front of cameras so frequently, such as during the 2012 presidential campaign, that the trial would not pose any additional danger.
New York-based Courtroom View Network will carry the video feed of the entire trial, which was scheduled to begin Wednesday Pacific Time, and make it available to other news outlets free of charge. The Review-Journal, three Las Vegas television stations, The New York Times and PBS are among the media outlets that have submitted coverage requests.
Mr Adelson is scheduled to testify on Thursday.
Mr Suen, a Hong Kong businessman, is suing LVS for US$328 million, claiming the money is owed him for helping the company win its lucrative Macau casino license by setting up meetings between Sands executives and high-ranking Chinese government officials in Beijing in 2001. LVS acknowledges that it hired Mr Suen as a consultant but argues that he is owed nothing because he did nothing. LVS says it was officials in Macau, not Beijing, who decided on the license. A Las Vegas jury found in Mr Suen’s favor in 2008, awarding him $58.6 million. But the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the verdict.
In 2009, LVS paid $42.5 million to three men who also said they helped the company obtain the Macau license. Taiwanese-American businessman Marshall Hao is also suing, alleging that LVS breached its contract with his company by secretly teaming up with what is now Galaxy Entertainment Group to launch what would be the successful bid for the Macau concession. Mr Hao is seeking what would have been his share of the profits had the partnership remained intact.
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