Posted on 07/19/2007 7:39:39 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Ex-CEO accused of building secret lair
2 hours, 1 minute ago
The co-founder of semiconductor maker Broadcom Corp., under scrutiny in a federal stock options probe, was accused seven years ago of building an underground hideaway at his estate to indulge in drugs and sex with prostitutes, according to court documents.
In a draft complaint made against Henry T. Nicholas III, a construction crew claimed the billionaire failed to pay them millions of dollars for work performed between 1998 and 2002, and used "manipulation, lies, intimidation, and even death threats" when anyone threatened to quit.
The illegal network of tunnels and rooms underneath Nicholas' Laguna Hills estate was kept secret from his wife and city officials, the documents said.
The purpose of one secret room was to allow Nicholas to "indulge his appetite for illegal drugs and sex with prostitutes," the crew claimed.
The allegations in the draft complaint were not filed with the crew's lawsuit against Nicholas in 2002, which was later resolved in a confidential settlement. However, the complaint was attached in 2005 as a supporting document to a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court by a man seeking a larger share of the settlement.
Some of the allegations were similar to those made by former Nicholas employee Kenji Kato, who claimed Nicholas took cocaine, ecstasy and heroin and hired prostitutes for clients. Kato, who said he served as Nicholas' bodyguard and personal assistant for seven years, is seeking $3 million plus damages for his resignation due to what he says was a hostile workplace.
Nicholas' attorney Steven A. Silverstein has characterized Kato's claims as an extortion attempt and said of the construction crew complaint, "all of the allegations are denied."
Nicholas, 47, also has been identified by an internal Broadcom audit as bearing "significant responsibility" for the way stock options were granted and dated during the high-flying days of the Irvine-based technology company.
The company said it found evidence that Nicholas, who left Broadcom in 2003, personally approved of options dates that led the company to restate earnings and record $2.22 billion in non-cash expenses. Another Nicholas attorney, John W. Spiegel, has said his client did not knowingly engage in selecting grant dates after the fact.
This is news to me. It's illegal to dig tunnels and rooms under your property?
The only thing that could be illegal about them is if they violated zoning laws when building them, which seems to be alleged... but that’s about it.
Kept secret —> No building inspection --> illegal
Sa . . . WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
You need a building permit so they can increase your property taxes, don't you know?
Hard to assess taxes on, too, which I’m sure would rub the rev’nooers the wrong way...
It seems if a construction company did millions of $ worth of work, someone in the zoning dept would have known about it. How could anyone keep that much work from being seen?
The mistake these people make when putting their secret lairs together is dressing their henchmen in bright-colored jumpsuits. They’re just too easy to pick out in a gunfight.
He does have a lot of contacts in local politics and owns most of the local politicians that are openly corrupt in their business practices and running the cities, and, the law firms representing those cities.
Building complexes, building commissions and laws simply by-passed for projects he was funding, local communities lied to, ridiculed and attacked, etc.
He also had a lot of "looking the other way" and blaming the victims by the local Orange Country Register as they covered for him (IMO).
The problem is so many attorneys have to “conflict” themselves out of almost every issue this guy is involved in since he has so much power in the communities.
I hope the pendulum finally swings back and this guy and the city councils in Orange County and the political hacks that did nothing finally get their just rewards. You give bad
Read my post #13
Secret tunnels and earthquakes probably don’t mix well. What a way to go. Slowly dying in your porn bunker with a hooker and no one knows you’re there.
OK
You have my favorite tag line. It is the only one that really stays in my mind.
Bodyguard named Kato? Secret underground lair of reclusive billionaire? We’ve unmasked the Green Hornet!!
Thanks, it pretty much sums up everything about me. I have to change it temporarily for election year coverage though. I think next year it will have to be something like...”Who we gonna hate in ‘08?” I’m pretty worried about 2012, as that’s a hard one to rhyme.
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