Corruption is commonplace in Laxalt’s world
In Case You Missed It, new reporting from Newsweek highlights corrupt politician Adam Laxalt’s extensive list of scandals. His record of “allegations of pressuring officials, using his position as attorney general to fend off investigators, and accepting illegal campaign contributions” raises concerns about Laxalt’s history of corruption.
Laxalt has consistently used his elected position to benefit himself, not Nevada. Laxalt abused his AG office to try to keep investigators from scrutinizing Big Oil interests connected to his campaign backers, the billionaire Koch brothers. Just one year later he was caught on tape pressuring state regulators to help another top donor, Sheldon Adelson.
Laxalt’s extensive history of corruption led Russian oligarch Andrey Muraviev to believe that Laxalt would help him get a marijuana license in Nevada while associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman raised campaign cash for him.
Newsweek: Trump-Backed Adam Laxalt’s Lengthy List of Financial Scandals
Nick Mordowanec // 7.08.22
Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt is receiving a visit Friday from the party’s most influential member as he pushes toward a November election despite past financial controversies.
[…]
Laxalt, who served as the state’s attorney general from 2015 to 2019 and who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, was a co-chairman of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.
During his time in office, Laxalt faced allegations of pressuring officials, using his position as attorney general to fend off investigators, and accepting illegal campaign contributions from Lev Parnas—who was tried and ultimately convicted in October 2021 of federal campaign finance crimes. On June 29, Parnas was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Politico reported that during Parnas’ trial, Laxalt—who received two $5,000 donations from co-defendant Igor Fruman that had allegedly been arranged by Parnas—testified that he first met Parnas at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., in 2018 in the company of Rudy Guiliani, one of the former president’s attorneys.
After reportedly “really bombarding” Parnas for donations, according to Politico, Laxalt testified that legal counsel suggested his campaign return the $10,000, and the money was returned to the Treasury. However, Parnas’ attorney, Joseph Bondy, reportedly said Laxalt continually pushed Parnas for cash even though he thought of him in a “clownish” manner—adding that Laxalt told the FBI that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was the individual who connected Laxalt and Parnas originally.
In 2018, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported that then-Attorney General Laxalt allegedly kept fraud investigators at bay from some of his largest financial backers in relation to a large investigation into ExxonMobil and the effects of climate change.
Billionaires Charles and David Koch, who reportedly spent $2.5 million to support Laxalt’s run for governor, were also involved via a subpoena issued to ExxonMobil that named several Koch-backed organizations, the Gazette-Journal added.
[…]
One year earlier, the Las Vegas Sun reported that Laxalt was being investigated for allegedly coercing a gaming regulator in a recorded conversation related to a lawsuit involving mega donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
[…]
###
