Foster was chief executive of the Crown Prosecution Service, but he was not, in fact, a prosecutor.
Foster's chief executive, John Pollaers, also said the company was about halfway through a three-year reorganization that includes reducing costs and investments in brands.
Some analysts suggested Sony's campaign was bolstered by its business connections with the US entertainment industry, fostered by Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer Howard Stringer, a veteran of the CBS television network.
The progress fostered by former chief executive Ken Schofield and his successor O'Grady helped create a raft of European stars capable of thriving on the American circuit.
"If, on closing the FSS, the work is distributed in some way to a number of companies then without special arrangements being put in place the commission will not be able to access material which can go to the very heart of a review," said Foster, a former chief executive of the Crown Prosecution Service.
"You need to get your ticket punched before I let you run this company," he would tell Foster, who was chief of a small unit that made compounds for biotech companies.
Among the accusers were two foster daughters of the chief investigator and an adult sex offender who traded his testimony for a reduction of his sentence.
A few of the superdonors are friends: Foster S. Friess, the chief donor to the Red White and Blue Fund, a super PAC backing Rick Santorum, occasionally spars with Mr. Adelson over his support for Mr. Gingrich's super PAC.
The adjective is one that Mouzhan Majidi, chief executive of Foster + Partners, liberally attaches to Beijing's new airport terminal, designed by his British firm.
