Las Vegas Sands boss Sheldon Adelson occasionally needs to be reminded that he isn’t always the most powerful person in the room, especially when that room is a US District Court.

Adelson has been testifying this week in his four-year-long court fight with former Sands China CEO Steve Jacobs, who was sacked in 2011 after clashing with Adelson over still somewhat unclear reasons. Jacobs has sued for wrongful termination and the bitter war of words that followed has led to multiple defamation suits filed by both sides.

The current legal face-off in Vegas is attempting to determine whether the US is the proper jurisdiction to hear the suit. Adelson and LVS say that since Jacobs worked for Sands China, Macau is the proper jurisdiction, while Jacobs claims that Adelson pulled Sands China’s strings from his Las Vegas HQ.

In his first court appearance on Tuesday, Adelson denied being Sands China’s puppet master, saying he was ‘not hiring and firing the housekeeping department.” Adelson claimed there was “no way any one person can operate an 8,000-mile-away property.”