Las Vegas newspaper, quoting anonymous sources, reveals that Sheldon Adelson

News + Media Capital Group LLC bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal and some affiliated publications for $140 million, a markup of about 37 percent from the paper’s last sale earlier this year, when the similarly named New Media Investment Group bought it. The new buyer was incorporated in September.

According to the Adelson family, they were going to announce the purchase but chose to hold back because of the Republican presidential debate, which took place at the Venetian Hotel-Casino.

“We understand the desire of the hard-working staff at the R-J and others in the community to know the identity of the papers new owners, and it was always our intention to publicly announce our ownership of the R-J”, the Adelson family said.

FOX5 has not been able to independently confirm the identity of the new owner. “Its hard to ask the public to trust a newspaper that is unwilling to reveal its ownership and their ties to other private interests”.

Ron Reese, a spokesman for Las Vegas Sands Corp., said in an email Wednesday that he had no information on the matter and wouldn’t comment on reports of Adelson buying the paper.

The fact the owners remained shrouded in mystery since the announcement prompted many Review-Journal staff members to call for transparency from their new owners.

During the 2012 election cycle, he spent more than $10 million to fund a super Pac supporting his longtime friend and ally Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House; this time around, Adelson is said to be leaning toward hawkish Sen.

But Adelson himself is still refusing to comment on his reported purchase of the paper, keeping the mystery, almost unprecedented in American modern history, somewhat alive.

Adelson’s suspected involvement in the buyout was a cause of great concern in the newsroom and journalists at the paper had started a Twitter campaign to force the new owners to identify themselves.

The Adelsons noted that “the management team from New Media, which is now running the R-J, will continue to oversee the operations of the publication”.

The confusion reached even the newspaper’s leadership, where Editor Mike Hengel said in an email to The Times that “no one has confirmed [Adelson’s ownership] to us”. Adelson is also the owner of the pro-Netanyahu Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom, which is distributed widely for free in Israel. Ken Doctor, a media analyst, said the previous owner effectively flipped the newspaper for a profit and that its reporters’ own criticism of the deal could have long-term repercussions for the paper. They pledged to invest in the paper.

A call to the newspaper’s publisher, Jason Taylor-who apparently knows for certain who his new secret boss is-was not returned. The Review-Journal is the largest-circulation paper in the state, making it a powerful tool in the run-up to the Nevada caucus, which will be in mid-February and is one of the first on the primary schedule (third for Democrats and fourth for Republicans).