A newspaper owned by Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson has endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as its pick for Republican presidential nominee, while claiming that Adelson had nothing to do with the decision.

On Friday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal ran an editorial formally declaring its support for Rubio to win Nevada’s Republican caucus on Feb. 23. The editorial stressed that Adelson’s family had “detached themselves from our endorsement process” and that the LVRJ’s endorsement “does not represent the support of the family.”

Adelson is a mega whale in campaign finance circles, having reportedly contributed over $100m in the 2012 presidential cycle alone. However, few of the GOP candidates he supported won their races and Adelson has apparently concluded that flooding the airwaves with attack ads isn’t enough; you need the façade of journalistic integrity to get your message across.

Adelson’s acquisition of the LVRJ was controversial from the start. Having originally attempted to mask his involvement, he was eventually exposed by the LVRJ staff themselves. The staff also revealed that as Adelson was negotiating the purchase, his minions used LVRJ resources in a failed attempt to dig up dirt on a Nevada judge presiding over a wrongful dismissal case brought by a former Sands exec.