Henry T. Nicholas III indicted on drug and fraud charges

Henry T. Nicholas III indicted on drug and fraud charges The co-founder of Broadcom, Henry T. Nicholas III, was indicted on a long list of charges, mainly encompassing fraud and drugs dealings. The indictments, returned by a federal grand jury, charged Henry T. Nicholas III with a total of 25 counts, including conspiracy, securities fraud, false certification of financial reports, filing false statements with the U.S. SEC, wire fraud and conspiracy to distribute and acquire controlled substances. Most of the charges stem from a scheme to backdate options without properly accounting for the move, which forced Broadcom restate its financial results in January 2007 and report more than $2 billion in compensation expenses it hadn't accounted for. And according to the court documents, the drug charges are based on allegations of Henry T. Nicholas III "spiking" the drinks of several technology-industry leaders and customer representatives with ecstasy.

Henry T. Nicholas III was the founder of the company Broadcom in 1991, making the innards of cable TV boxes at his Redondo Beach apartment. In January 2003, Nicholas quit Broadcom, saying he intended to spend more time with his children and tend to his marriage. Among the many legal troubles he now faces is a divorce battle with his wife Stacey, with whom he controls US$1.1 billion in Broadcom shares. He appeared on the pages of OGPaper back in July of 2007, when he was sued by a construction company and some spicy details were made public, click here to read the article.

Published on 06/05/2008