Billionaire GOP Donor Adelson Sues for Libel

Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson is suing the National Jewish Democratic Council for alleging that the millions of dollars he is pouring into Mitt Romney's campaign is "dirty money." The billionaire has filed a $60 million defamation lawsuit against the group over an article on its website that claimed Adelson "personally approved of prostitution in his Macau casinos," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The prostitution allegation originally surfaced in a wrongful-dismissal suit from the former chief of Adelson's operations in the Chinese gambling enclave.

The lawsuit accuses the NJDC of "assassinating" Adelson's character, and notes that he funds Israeli charities that rehabilitate prostitutes. The group says it was within its rights to cite the allegations, which had appeared in mainstream press accounts, and it plans to fight the lawsuit. "We will not be bullied into submission, and we will not be silenced by power," the group says. "This is not Putin's Russia, and in America, political speech regarding one of the most well-known public figures in our country is a fundamental right. One would think the person making greatest use of the Citizens United ruling would understand this." (More Sheldon Adelson stories.)