Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and prominent Republican donor, has lost a $60 million libel lawsuit in which he claimed a Democratic group spread a false accusation that he had condoned prostitution in his casinos in Macau.At issue was an article published on July 3, 2012 by the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) on its website that sought to dissuade then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney and other Republicans from accepting Adelson’s allegedly "dirty" and "tainted" money.It cited reports about an accusation that the Las Vegas Sands Corp chief executive "personally approved of prostitution" in his Macau properties.U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken in Manhattan on Monday said the article constituted protected speech and was not libelous.The accusation, which Adelson has denied, had surfaced in a wrongful termination lawsuit against him by fired Las Vegas Sands executive Steven Jacobs. It was discussed in an Associated Press article about that lawsuit, to which the NJDC provided a hyperlink in its article online.