Frederick Sinclair

Frederick Sinclair, or the Founder's remains, was a pre-War businessman and the founder and owner of the Sierra Madre casino in 2077.

Background
Sinclair was a wealthy businessman with a boastful and egotistical disposition who suffered many crippling financial losses in the 2070s. Nonetheless, he managed to hold on to the remainder of his fortune and expand it. He then remained obsessed with security for years to come. Sinclair was friends with Dean Domino, who introduced Vera Keyes to him. From that moment, he fell in love with the starlet.

The Sierra Madre Casino was to be his ultimate gift to her, a shelter from the inevitable nuclear war with China that he predicted was to come, its vault serving as a bunker. But events didn't pan out the way he had hoped. Dean Domino introduced Sinclair to Vera Keyes, with whom Domino once had a torrid affair if the tabloid press was to be believed. Sinclair was suspicious, and rightly so.

Sinclair discovered evidence of a plot by Domino and Vera that involved breaking into the casino vault and taking the treasures that lay within. Sinclair set about preparing a trap, and had the builders design the casino so that the vault, once accessed, would be impossible to escape. Vera eventually confessed her betrayal to him, overcome by guilt, and Sinclair decided enough was enough and it was the time that the casino returned to its original purpose.

Although he no longer loved her and he was left hollow by her betrayal, he could not bear to kill her, so he returned to the vault and removed the entry intended for her, replacing it with an apology. Subsequently, he attempted to jury rig the electronics of the shelter to remove the trap by directly accessing them from the pipes, but due to a leak in the system, he succumbed to a poison cloud. All that remains is the trap itself and a message to Dean Domino that he left behind.

Appearances
Frederick Sinclair appears in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money and is mentioned in Old World Blues.

Behind the scenes

 * The quote "Know that on the night of the Gala Event I shall raise my glass and whisper, Fortunato" is a direct reference to The Cask of Amontillado, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
 * Sinclair and the Madre are a nod to Upton Sinclair.