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Miriam Adelson
Status
Born in 1945 (age –). Living in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Criminal status: No personal convictions; Las Vegas Sands Corporation paid USD 9M to SEC and USD 7M to DOJ to resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations related to undocumented payments in China and Macao (2016-2017)
Summary
Miriam Adelson is an Israeli-American physician and businesswoman who inherited majority control of Las Vegas Sands Corporation following the death of her husband Sheldon Adelson in January 2021. She has become one of the most powerful political donors in American history, contributing over USD 600 million to Republican campaigns and affiliated causes since 2015.
Adelson trained as a physician specializing in addiction medicine, co-founding drug treatment clinics in Tel Aviv (1993) and Las Vegas (2000) and establishing the Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Medical Research Foundation to fund biomedical research in neurology, oncology, and immunology.
She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018 for this work.
Business Relationships
Sheldon Adelson — husband and co-founder of Las Vegas Sands Corporation; Adelson inherited his majority stake and casino empire upon his death in January 2021.
Patrick Dumont — son-in-law, promoted to Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Las Vegas Sands in 2026 after serving as President and Chief Operating Officer since 2021 and Chief Financial Officer since 2016; also serves as governor of the Dallas Mavericks on Adelson's behalf.
Ownership
Miriam Adelson is the majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, an international casino and resort company operating in Singapore and Macao. She inherited this controlling stake when Sheldon Adelson died in 2021. As of April 2026, Adelson and Irwin Chafetz, treated as a group, beneficially owned 58.3% of outstanding shares; in June 2026, family trusts holding her stake distributed roughly 350.9 million shares among four new family trusts for no consideration, leaving Dr. Adelson individually attributed with approximately 51.5% of outstanding common stock. She is also majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA franchise (acquired 2023) and serves as publisher of Israel Hayom, Israel's most widely circulated newspaper. In July 2026, minority owner Mark Cuban filed a pre-suit deposition in Dallas County alleging the Adelson and Dumont families engaged in "adversarial business practices" that shut him out of the team's plans for a new arena at the Valley View site, despite Cuban retaining a 27% stake and a claimed contractual right to participate.
Family & Heirs
Miriam Adelson was previously married to physician Ariel Ochshorn, a marriage that ended in divorce by 1986 and produced two daughters: Sivan Ochshorn, who married Patrick Dumont in 2009 and runs Israel Hayom, and Yasmin Lukatz, an Israeli venture capital investor and social entrepreneur. She married Sheldon Adelson in 1991, and together they have two sons: Adam Adelson, a racecar driver, and Matan Adelson, who has owned Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. since 2023. Sheldon Adelson died on January 11, 2021, leaving Miriam as the controlling heir of his casino and media empire; her son-in-law Patrick Dumont was elevated to CEO and Chairman of Las Vegas Sands in 2026, positioning him as the operational successor to the business.
Evidence
2006-10-26 - 😇 - Sheldon Adelson donates USD 25M to Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial — largest private donation in Yad Vashem history
2014-10-22 - 😇 - Miriam Adelson's addiction medicine career: founded clinics in Tel Aviv (1993) and Las Vegas (2000) treating heroin and cocaine addiction
2015-02-10 - 😇 - Sheldon Adelson gives USD 40M to Birthright Israel for free trips for young Jewish adults
2016-04-07 - 😈 - Las Vegas Sands pays USD 9M to SEC to settle FCPA violations over undocumented payments to consultants in China and Macao
2016-06-17 - 😇 - Miriam Adelson elected to Rockefeller University Board of Trustees for pioneering addiction research work
2018-02-05 - 😇 - Adelson Medical Research Foundation funds multi-institutional multiple myeloma research program at Harvard, MD Anderson and others
2021-06-25 - 😇 - Adelson Clinic opens new expanded drug treatment facility in Tel Aviv after 28 years rehabilitating drug addicts
2024-10-15 - 😈 - Miriam Adelson gives USD 100M to Preserve America PAC — largest single contribution to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign
2025-03-18 - 😈 - Maccabee Task Force, funded with nearly USD 70M from Adelson since 2016, targets pro-Palestinian students with coordinated suppression campaigns
2025-10-13 - 😈 - Trump lauds Adelson at Israeli Knesset; she backed West Bank annexation advocacy and helped fund Jerusalem embassy relocation
2025-10-22 - 😇 - Miriam Adelson receives Israel's Presidential Medal of Honor for hostage-advocacy work following the October 7 attacks
2026-04-03 - 😈 - Adelson family's Las Vegas Review-Journal ownership linked to editorial independence concerns and softened political coverage
2026-04-16 - 😈 - Adelson tops 2026 GOP donor list with USD 40M to Republican Senate and House PACs for midterms
2026-06-19 - 😈 - Israel Hayom, owned by Adelson, publishes op-ed accusing Trump of "betraying" Israel and signing a "surrender agreement" with Iran
2026-07-09 - 😈 - Mark Cuban files pre-suit deposition alleging Adelson and Dumont families' adversarial business practices shut him out of new Dallas Mavericks arena deal
Analysis
Miriam Adelson has channeled more than USD 600 million into Republican political campaigns since 2015, making her one of the most consequential political donors in American history. Her financial support has been explicitly tied to specific foreign policy outcomes: her USD 100 million 2024 donation to Preserve America PAC was reportedly conditioned on Trump's support for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, and her earlier donations contributed to the U.S. Embassy relocation to Jerusalem.
Beyond financial donations, Adelson serves as president of the Maccabee Task Force, which she has backed with nearly USD 70 million since 2016. The organization conducts coordinated campaigns targeting pro-Palestinian student speech on college campuses and amplified efforts to have federal funding withheld from universities that declined to adopt antisemitism definitions equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
At a White House Hanukkah reception in December 2025, Adelson offered Trump another USD 250 million after discussing the legality of a third presidential term with attorney Alan Dershowitz, prompting chants of "four more years" despite the 22nd Amendment's two-term limit. Separately, Adelson has personally funded Texas Sands PAC and Texas Defense PAC in an effort to elect state legislators who would legalize casino gambling in Texas, directly benefiting her own business interests; the PACs' preferred candidates lost their March 2026 primary races. Her pattern of using owned media to advance a political agenda also continued in June 2026, when Israel Hayom published an editorial accusing Trump of "betraying" Israel over his Iran deal, showing that the outlet's coverage tracks Adelson's own foreign-policy views rather than journalistic independence.
Her contributions to addiction medicine and biomedical research are genuine. The Adelson Clinic network has treated thousands of drug-addicted patients in Tel Aviv and Las Vegas, and the Adelson Medical Research Foundation distributes tens of millions of dollars annually to top research institutions.
In October 2025, Israel's President awarded her the Presidential Medal of Honor, the country's highest civil honor, for personally advocating in the United States for the return of hostages taken during the October 7 attacks. These achievements are real and significant, but they do not outweigh a documented pattern of weaponizing political money to purchase foreign policy outcomes and suppress protected speech.
Adelson's business dealings have also drawn a new governance dispute: Mark Cuban's July 2026 legal filing accuses the Adelson and Dumont families of shutting a minority owner out of a major arena decision despite his contractual participation rights, echoing the pattern already visible in her personally funded push to legalize casino gambling in Texas -- using controlling ownership positions to advance outcomes that benefit her own business interests over other stakeholders.
Questions
Should massive political donations that explicitly condition policy outcomes be treated the same as general political speech? Her USD 100 million donation was reportedly tied directly to support for West Bank annexation — a quid pro quo that goes beyond standard political giving into corruption-scale influence peddling.
Does operating media organizations (Israel Hayom and the Las Vegas Review-Journal) that advance the owner's political agenda represent a distinct harm to democratic discourse, or is partisan media ownership simply a form of political expression?
How should a billionaire's public offer of USD 250 million tied to a sitting president's third-term ambitions be weighed, even when framed as banter at a public event — does the light tone change the significance of the sum or the norm being floated?
How should Adelson's genuine achievements in addiction medicine be weighed against her role in driving speech suppression on college campuses and purchasing foreign policy outcomes through billion-dollar political donations?
Does her Presidential Medal of Honor for hostage advocacy represent a distinct category of personal humanitarian action, separate from her financial donations, or is it inseparable from the same political relationships that drive her influence-buying?
Redemption Arc
Miriam Adelson's political spending has grown over time, not diminished. She gave USD 100M in 2024, offered another USD 250M tied to a Trump third term in December 2025, and gave USD 40M in early 2026 to GOP super PACs. She also personally bankrolled a failed effort to elect pro-casino Texas legislators for her own business benefit, and by July 2026 faced a new governance dispute over allegedly shutting a Mavericks minority owner out of arena plans. Maccabee Task Force activity intensified following October 7, 2024. There are no signals of a change in direction.