Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson testified Friday that a top executive of his gambling company breached his fiduciary duty by offering to pay a Hong Kong businessman to find investors and help obtain a casino license in Macau.

Adelson, the 74-year-old billionaire chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp. acknowledged under cross examination that William Weidner, president and chief operating officer of the Las Vegas-based company, provided a letter to Richard Suen seeking his assistance in doing business in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau.

Suen claims in a civil lawsuit filed in 2004 that he was promised a $5 million “success fee” and 2 percent of net casino profits to help Las Vegas Sands open its first casino in Macau.

“I was sick at the time, Weidner did it. It’s OK,” Adelson said in the second day of the multimillion dollar civil trial being heard in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas.

“So Mr. Weidner breached his fiduciary duties to his company as far as you understand, is that what you’re telling us?” asked John O’Malley, lawyer for plaintiff Suen and Round Square Co.

“Yes,” Adelson responded. “But I still love him. And I have a lot of respect for him.”

But in other testimony, Adelson denied Suen had been hired by Sands.

A Las Vegas Sands spokesman declined comment Friday, saying the company does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Weidner is expected to testify next week.

If proved, Suen’s deal could be worth millions. Las Vegas Sands reported $10.3 billion in revenue last year from the Sands Macao, which opened in 2004, and the Venetian Macao, which opened in August 2007. The company also owns The Venetian and Palazzo hotels and adjacent Sands Expo and Convention Center on the Las Vegas Strip.

O’Malley showed the jury a December 2001 letter that Adelson acknowledged drafting and signing, but which he said had been revised by former company general counsel David Friedman before it was sent to Suen. Friedman, who worked for Adelman for nine years, resigned in February 2004.

The letter notes Suen agreed to “talk to people” he knew in China who would “view The Venetian favorably to deliver a license to Macau.”

“What was sent was not what I asked to be sent,” Adelson said.

Adelson, who rode a motorized wheelchair-scooter to court and leaned on his wife, Dr. Miriam Ochshorn, for help to and from the witness stand, previously told jurors that his senior management handled day-to-day company affairs while he suffered from a neurological disorder and took medication to dull severe pain during 2001 and 2002.

“I sort of had awakenings during long-term sleep. Up until the first quarter of ’02, the pain started to dissipate,” Adelson said.

But Adelson he denied he was not in control of his casino empire.

“I am technically the CEO. You know, it’s like President Truman had on his desk, ‘The Buck Stops Here.’ Theoretically I was responsible for everything,” he said.

Adelson is ranked third on Forbes magazine’s list of richest Americans with an estimated worth of $28 billion.

Adelson said he first met Suen in 2000 at the request of his brother, Leonard Adelson, a business associate of Suen. Adelson told O’Malley that while he couldn’t dispute an offer had been made to hire Suen, he didn’t remember an offer.

“Did your company ever hire Mr. Suen to find investors or financing for (Las Vegas Sands) in connection with getting a gaming license in Macau?” O’Malley asked.

“He wasn’t hired, officially or unofficially,” Adelson said. “We have bankers whose job it is to find billions of dollars worth of financing. We wouldn’t go through any third party, whether it was Mr. Suen or my brother or anybody else. It would be irresponsible.”

Las Vegas Sands was awarded a Macau casino sub-concession in February 2002 in partnership with Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment. Adelson said his company now has some $12 billion invested in Macau, including its two large casinos, and has plans for about 10 more casino properties.

Las Vegas Sands will fully own all those hotels, Adelson said, except one that he said was a partnership with Far East Consortium International Limited of Hong Kong and China.

Adelson credited a Far East Consortium executive, David Chiu, with being “the guy who stepped up first” to help Las Vegas Sands establish a toehold in Macau when China broke a Macau casino monopoly long held by Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho.

Adelson said he felt a “moral obligation” to that promised partnership.

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