Sheldon Adelson must be wishing he could quit Michael Schroeder. He’s the loud tin can tied to the back of the Adelson limousine whose incessant rattling continues to draw attention to the casino tycoon’s foray into U.S. new media. Schroeder, the micro-tenured “manager” of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 
stalking horse for the Adelson family, who screwed up and was quickly sent scuttling back to Connecticut, has now taken center stage in the Steven Jacobs lawsuit. The latter’s lawyers want to know whether Las Vegas Sands Vice President of Finance & Strategy Patrick Dumont (who orchestrated Adelson’s R-J buyout) discussed the Jacobs case with Schroeder. The latter is reviled throughout the journalistic community for having published a hit piece on Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez that “contained plagiarized passages and made-up quotes, and was published under the pseudonym Edward Clarkin.”
Dumont tried to conceal himself behind journalistic shield laws when questioned whether he’d done any string-pulling in the “Clarkin” piece. Jacobs’ attorney, Todd Bice, said the questioning of Dumont was germane because it “may very well demonstrate additional malice that relates to [Jacobs’] defamation claim.” Gonzalez has deferred any rulings on Dumont-related matters to District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti. However, Schroeder may have served Adelson’s nefarious purposes after all. As John L. Smith points out, Sands attorneys can be expected to use Schroeder’s besmirching of Gonzalez’s reputation as grounds for removing her from the case, in hopes of finding a judge more deferential to Adelson, who has been having a rough time of it in Gonzalez’s court room.
* Gaming’s glass ceiling got a bit lower today with the news that Isle of 
Capri Casinos CEO Virginia McDowell is retiring, to be replaced with CFO Eric Hausler. McDowell has done a fine job with Isle and we wish her well. Elsewhere on the executive merry-go-round, MGM Resorts International is not following the example of Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc., which put gaming executives in charge of its REIT. MGM is reaching out to the real estate community, specifically plundering Greenhill & Co. to find CEO James Stewart and CFO Andy Chen. The sack-and-pillage of Greenhill shows that MGM is looking for some new thinking. Good for them.
