Henry Nicholas III pleads not guilty to options, drugs charges

Wanna hear the indictment again? Nah

Posted in Law, 17th June 2008 11:14 GMT

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Henry Nicholas III pleaded not guilty yesterday to a stack of charges ranging from stock options backdating to distributing illegal drugs.

Nicholas, 48, entered his pleas at the Federal Court in Santa Ana, California yesterday. He will return to face trial on July 29, and in the meantime is free on bail.

According to reports, Broadcom co-founder and former CEO Nicholas waived reading of the two sets of indictments he faces “with an emphatic, ‘No thank you’”.

Perhaps he simply didn’t have time to listen to the rundown of the astonishing list of charges he faces.

One indictment relates to alleged illegal stock-option backdating, which forced Broadcom to restate its results to the tune of $2.2bn.

The second indictment contained an array of allegations against Nicholas including distributing drugs from his various homes, supplying controlled substances to prostitutes, and spiking customer and employee drinks with ecstasy. If you really want the full breakdown of the drugs-related indictment, it’s available here (pdf).

Former Broadcom CFO Bill Ruehle also faces the backdating charges. He too entered a not guilty plea yesterday, and like Nicholas is on bail until the start of the trial. ®

Understand how application security is evolving