The Billionaire And The Con Artist

Forbes

The email from a dead billionaire’s secret son was promising. The sender, a man who said his famous father had built the world’s largest casino company, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, explained how he had a lot of information to share. “I should know,” he wrote, “I am the biological son of Sheldon Adelson.”  The first time the man who introduced himself as Sheldon Adelson, Jr. called, it was from a phone with a Las Vegas area code. Within minutes, he spun a wild yarn about how his ultra-rich father—who passed away in 2021 leaving a $35 billion fortune to his wife, Miriam, and his kids and a global $10.3 billion (2023 net revenue) casino empire with properties in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore—met his mother.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2024/03/02/sheldon-adelson-con-man-roger-williamson-sheldon-adelson-junior/?sh=50685e871c19  Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. Subscribe here: https://art19.com/shows/forbes-daily-briefing  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Tuesday, March 5.

00:05 Today on Forbes, the billionaire and the con artist.

00:11 The email from a dead billionaire's secret son was promising.

00:14 The sender, a man who said his famous father had built the world's largest casino company,

00:20 the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, explained how he had a lot of information to share.

00:26 He wrote, "I should know. I am the biological son of Sheldon Adelson."

00:32 The first time the man who introduced himself as Sheldon Adelson Jr. telephoned,

00:37 it was from a Las Vegas area code.

00:40 Within minutes, he spun a wild yarn about how his ultra-rich father met his mother.

00:46 His father passed away in 2021, leaving a $35 billion fortune to his wife Miriam and his kids.

00:53 The father also left a global $10.3 billion in 2023 net revenue, casino empire,

00:59 with properties in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore.

01:03 Here's how he began his story.

01:05 "My father was friends with Sumner Redstone, and in 1959, to be exact,

01:11 he stopped into Sumner's office and saw this beautiful Italian woman."

01:16 Redstone, who eventually became the billionaire chairman of Viacom and CBS,

01:20 had apparently told Adelson that the woman, his bookkeeper Anna Paradiso,

01:24 was a "lifesaver," but to "leave her alone," as she was divorced and had five kids.

01:30 The man continued in his nasally Boston accent,

01:33 "They had a five-year romance, and I was the product of that.

01:37 When they were expecting me, they had a conversation and agreed

01:40 that I would not be any responsibility to Mr. Adelson.

01:43 There are court documents to prove this."

01:46 He also said there is a birth certificate filed in Revere, Massachusetts

01:50 that would confirm that Adelson is his father.

01:53 Then Junior made a mistake.

01:55 He claimed he was Sheldon Adelson's only biological child.

02:00 While Adelson adopted his first wife's children, plus the children of his second wife,

02:04 he and Miriam had two children of their own, Adam and Matan.

02:09 Still, the man insisted that his father's friends would verify his story,

02:13 from Steve Forbes, the chairman of this publication,

02:16 to Steve Wynn, the billionaire co-founder of Wynn Resorts.

02:20 Both, however, said they had never heard of him.

02:24 But that shouldn't be too surprising,

02:26 because the real problem is that Sheldon Adelson Jr. doesn't exist.

02:32 The man who claims to be the late billionaire's namesake son

02:35 is in fact a convicted serial con artist named Roger Williamson,

02:40 who grew up in Revere, Massachusetts.

02:42 That detail was true, although the birth certificate he claims exists does not,

02:47 according to the city's Department of Vital Records and Statistics.

02:51 Williamson is a man with a long history of inventing identities and ripping people off.

02:55 He has gone by at least 11 different aliases,

02:58 and is described by multiple family members, ex-girlfriends, former landlords,

03:02 and other victims of his schemes as a compulsive liar who is, quote,

03:06 "not playing with a full deck of cards."

03:10 The Adelson family, through a spokesperson,

03:12 confirmed that they have known about Williamson for years,

03:15 but they are, quote, "not going to dignify the silliness of these claims

03:19 by providing specific answers to each of them."

03:22 In an email sent to Forbes, Leonard Adelson, Sheldon's brother, added, quote,

03:28 "I'm totally astonished that this man would make this claim."

03:32 He added that the whole thing is, quote, "outrageous and ridiculous."

03:37 When Williamson realized his scheme to make it into the pages of Forbes magazine

03:41 as the previously unknown scion of a billionaire wasn't working out,

03:45 he stopped returning calls.

03:47 In an email written from an address associated with a non-existent firm

03:51 called the Adelson Company, he tried to backpedal and wrote that the two previous

03:55 interviews he had given, quote, "must be from someone else. I don't know you."

04:01 For full coverage, check out Will Yakowitz's piece on Forbes.com.

04:07 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

04:11 [music]

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