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Broadcom tech billionaire Henry Nicholas arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of drug trafficking

by in News

A disheveled Henry T. Nicholas III, an Orange County tech billionaire, crime victims advocate and noted philanthropist, was arrested this week in Las Vegas on suspicion of drug trafficking.

Nicholas, co-founder of the chipmaker Broadcom, was arrested Tuesday, Aug.7 at the Encore hotel on the Las Vegas Strip on suspicion of trafficking heroin, cocaine, meth and ecstasy, Las Vegas police said.

Police responded to the casino-resort following a report from security, which found contraband in a room, police officer Larry Hadfield said.

Nicholas, 58, was arrested along with a woman, Ashley Fargo. They later were released on their own recognizance.

“Nicholas couldn’t get into his room at the Encore Tuesday and when security assisted, they discovered his girlfriend, Ashley Fargo, was unresponsive with a semi-deflated balloon in her mouth,” TMZ reported.

Paramedics were able to revive Fargo, according to the story.

Nicholas’ attorney, David Chesnoff, said his team is doing its own investigation and will “deal with the facts in court.” His client is due in a Las Vegas courtroom on Sept. 5.

 

Nicholas co-founded Broadcom in the 1990s and left the company in 2003. Recently, he has been bankrolling ballot measures in the U.S. that aim to guarantee certain rights to crime victims.

His estate is estimated to be worth $3.1 billion by Forbes magazine, which says Nicholas kept a 3 percent stake in the company. Broadcom was acquired by Singapore-based chip firm Avago in February 2016 for $37 billion in cash and stock and was renamed Broadcom Ltd. Formerly based in Irvine, the company has since moved its headquarters to San Jose.

Nicholas has struggled with illicit drug charges in the past. In June 2008, he was charged with four counts of distributing illegal drugs and 21 counts that he presided over a conspiracy to inflate and improperly account for $2.2 billion in Broadcom employee stock options, leading to the largest financial restatement of its kind in U.S. history.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges, which later were dismissed.

But by then, the case had made national headlines. A profile in Vanity Fair had the title: “Dr. Nicholas and Mr. Hyde: Sex, Lies and Underground Lairs.”

The court filings painted Nicholas as a ruthless entrepreneur who slipped drugs to competitors without their knowledge, who threatened the lives of employees he believed had turned against him, who had the means and motive to flee beyond the reach of justice in his private jet.

Among the allegations: Nicholas and his entourage once smoked so much marijuana aboard his personal jet that the pilot donned an oxygen mask, the drug indictment said; Nicholas entertained clients with prostitutes, cocaine and “ecstasy”; Nicholas built a secret lair for sex and drug orgies.

After the charges were dropped, Nicholas set out to clear his name.

A longtime philanthropist, he donated time and money to his children’s school, St. Margaret’s Episcopal in San Juan Capistrano and supported the Nicholas Academic Centers, a program for underprivileged urban students.

Other organizations benefitting from Nicholas’ largesse included Habitat for Humanity, a small-business incubator called Chefs Center of California, the Episcopal Church, Opera Pacific, the Pacific Symphony, the Ocean Institute, engineering and computer science programs at UCI, the Oakland Military Institute, and the Mt. Olive School for girls in Kenya.

Nicholas also bankrolled California’s Marsy’s Law, a bill of rights for victims of violent crime named after his sister, who was slain by an ex-boyfriend in 1983. Nicholas backed the initiative with $4.9 million in campaign contributions.

Six states have now passed some version of Marsy’s Law, according to a May 2018 story in The Marshall Project, and he has spent $25 million so far and plans to spend millions more to get the amendment passed across the nation and into the U.S. Constitution.

The law expands the definition of “victim” to include a wide range of relatives, and it provides protection from the defendant, notification of all court proceedings, and restitution. It also grants parole boards greater power to deny parole.

Some prosecutors, however, have complained that the requirements are especially impractical for white-collar cases with large numbers of victims, such as securities frauds involving thousands of stockholders.

“You really would clog the system if you’re going to give thousands of people the right to be heard at every stage of a proceeding,” said Barry Pollack, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Marsy’s Law for All, the victims’ rights group, said Nicholas’ arrest won’t slow down the organization.

“We know Dr. Nicholas to be a tireless advocate for victims’ rights. The ongoing effort to provide constitutional rights to victims of crime is a cause far greater than any one person,” the group said in a statement on Thursday night. “The allegations in the media should not interfere with Marsy’s Law.”

Nicholas and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas have worked together advocating victims’ rights. As Rackauckas faces a tough battle for a sixth term in office, Nicholas’ arrest likely puts an end to any idea that the billionaire would campaign for Rackauckas or even spend money through an independent expenditure on behalf of Rackauckas.

Staff writers Marilyn Kalfus and Tony Saavedra contributed to this report.

Related:

So-called ‘bad boy Broadcom billionaire’ Henry Nicholas shares struggles, helps others

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Ex-Broadcom CEO: Drugs meant he was ‘not fully functioning’

Ex-girlfriend of Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas sues for $70 million