1. Å samle meld eller sikring: Problemene med biopikken inkluderer. datoer flyttet rundt, elskere slettet, mange tegn conflated til en (Ty Burr). 2. For å kombinere (to varianttekster, for eksempel) i en helhet. 3. For ikke å skille mellom forvirre. Se bruksnotat nedenfor. Latin cx14dnflx101re. cx14dnflx101t-. kom-. comflx101re. å blåse se bhlx113- i tillegget til indo-europeiske røtter. Bruk Note: Tradisjonelt betyr conflate å samle meld eller sikring, som i setningen jeg har problemer med å skille Jane Austens heltinnen innså jeg at jeg hadde sammenflettet Elizabeth Bennet og Emma Woodhouse til en enkelt karakter i tankene mine. I vår 2015-undersøkelse godtok 87 prosent av brukerpanelene denne tradisjonelle bruken. Nylig har en ny følelse for conflate dukket opp, noe som betyr å feile en ting for en annen, som om det var et synonym for forvirring. I 2015 fant brukerpanelene våre denne nye følelsen å være marginalt akseptabel, med 55 prosent aksepterte setningen. Folk sammenfaller ofte statsgjelden med det føderale underskuddet da senatoren snakket om å redusere gjelden, han refererte faktisk til underskuddet. (tr) å kombinere eller blande (to ting, esp to versjoner av en tekst) for å danne en hel C16: fra latinske conflre å blåse sammen, fra fler til å blåse Referanser i tidsskrifter arkivfudal og prekapitalistisk) - er Konflikt med de nordlige kapitalistiske argumentene om krigens natur, argumenter som også fordømte slaveri (om kanskje litt mer insincerely i flere tilfeller, Lincoln er et bemerkelsesverdig eksempel blant dem, enn sosialistene) og derved forstyrre sosialismen av De Forty-Eighters og andre med Lincoln Republicanism og senere med totalitarisme av Stalin og Mao, Adolf Hitlers nazisme og (som man kan forvente) med dagens store regjerings liberaler i USA. Noen vil glede seg over endringene noen, som tidligere har hevdet seg mot konflaterte tekster, kan, jeg mistenker, ønsker å revurdere sine stillinger. Begge skriftlærde conflated realitetene i to svært forskjellige systemer, poolbetting og bookmaking, da Deep Impact aldri faktisk handles på 1-10. Kaller det graden inflasjon eller raskt skiftende arbeidsstyrke behov, er det faktum at Amerika høyskoler, rikelig og robust på 1950-tallet, har conflated å danne en web av skjøre institusjoner mot skremmende utfordringer i skala, undervisning avhengighet, grusom konkurranse, og den umettelige appetitten av pedagogiske forbrukere. Det som vi løst og provoserende kaller rase, så ofte sammenflettet med farge, kultur og bevissthet, endres med å passere hvert historisk øyeblikk og hvert fotspor mot eller vekk fra de jordiske hjørnene som våre forfedre migrert fra. HVIS HVIS COMPENSATION ikke ble politisert nok, har skandalen over backdating av opsjonsbidrag fornyet tvil om effekten av denne kompensasjonsformen og sammensatt en rekke andre problemer som involverer Sarbanes-Oxley-kontrollen. Agnew brukte ofte synkroniserte språk, og rapporterte ubeleilige fakta og demonstranter som prøvde å stoppe krigen. I sin kort pekte TEI på at stående og handelsklausulene stod sammen i Cuno fordi skattebetalerkonfliktene som utfordret Ohios skattekreditt ikke kunne påvise noen egentlig skade - en forutsetning for å herske i begge saker. Styret hadde sammensatt religion med vitenskap på en måte som dårlig tjenestegjorde de unge i Ohio. Og her kom det igjen, sammen med noen tanker om determinisme - å ha fremtiden din overlevert mot den moralske verdien av fri vilje, noe som er spesielt amerikansk, spesielt nå, og spesielt sammensatt av økonomisk ekspansjon. Longfellow modellerte sitt dikt på den finske episke Kavelala, conflated den Iroquoian Hiawatha med en Algonquian kulturhelt som heter Nanabozho, og fra det tidspunktet på Hiawatha var aldri det samme. Den oppnådde hjelp fra American College of Gastroenterology, den profesjonelle organisasjonen for leger som spesialiserer seg på å behandle sykdommer i mage og tarm, en kampanje som bevisst og effektivt sammenflettet GERD, noe som er alvorlig og halsbrann, som ikke er i hjernen av både forbrukere og leger. Decad senere vil anklaget administrerende direktør, Kobi Alexander, vende tilbake til USA for å betale Kobi Alexander tilbake til USA mandag 22. august 2016 07:39 ET 01:21 Tidligere Comverse Technology Styreformann og administrerende direktør Jacob Kobi Alexander, som nektet å vende tilbake fra Afrika etter å ha blitt anklaget i en omfattende aksjeopsjonsskandale for ti år siden, har avtalt å returnere til USA for å møte kostnader som CNBC har lært. Alexander vil påtale seg skyldig onsdag til en enestående erstatning, ifølge hans kriminelle advokat i New York, Benjamin Brafman, som kommer til en av de siste gjenværende sakene i dot-com-epoken. Avtalen er produktet av mer enn to år med følsomme forhandlinger blant justisdepartementet, Alexanders advokater og myndigheter i Namibia, hvor Alexander, 64, har levd siden 2006 mens han bekjempet utlevering til USA. Han var planlagt å vises før en Namibisk dommer mandag morgen for å avslutte saken der og rydde veien for sin retur til New York. En talsmann for det amerikanske advokatkontoret i Brooklyn, som tok den opprinnelige anklage, nektet å kommentere. En føderal grand jury anklaget Alexander i 2006 på 35 teller for angivelig masterminding en 15-årig ordning for å manipulere verdien av millioner av dollar verdt av Comverse alternativer. Han er også anklaget for hvitvasking av penger etter å ha flyttet millioner av dollar til personlige kontoer i hans hjemlige Israel, samt bestikkelse og vitnesbyrd for å forsøke å overtale selskapets sjef finansansvarlig til å ta fallet for skandalen. Comverse, en elskling av Wall Street under tech boom, banebrytende utviklingen av talepost. Men etter boblen brast, var selskapet blant de første som ble målrettet i en feiende føderal undersøkelse av opsjonsvindel. To toppleder pleaded skyldig. Comverse Technology overlevde til 2013, da den ble kjøpt ut av et tidligere datterselskap, Verint Systems. Med sin egen anklage truende i 2006 flyttet Alexander til Namibia, som ikke hadde noen utleveringsavtale med USA. CNBC spores ham der i 2007, og fant ham bosatt i et inngjerdet på grunn av Windhoek Country Club. Hans luksuriøse byhus lå ved siden av en privat flyvebane, selv om en Namibisk dommer hadde begrenset sin reise og Alexander teoretisk stod overfor visse anholdelser dersom han forlot landet. Da hadde Alexander lovet millioner av dollar overdådige av namibiske standarder for hjelp til Namibiske skolebarn og nye boliger for nasjonene fattige townships. Alexander og hans kone satte også opp et par suppe kjøkken i landet, krediteres av lokale medier med å mate hundrevis av barn hver dag. Advokater i USA anklaget Alexander for å benytte Comverse-aksjonærpenger til å kjøpe den nigerianske regjeringen, som hans advokat fra Namibia nektet å nekte. Han har rett til å være her, han har rett til å delta i økonomien, og jeg tror at noen som har den typen ide, det er en bevegelse av egne midler og gjør, fortalte Richard Metcalfe CNBC i 2007. Likevel utleveringsprosedyrer i Namibiske domstoler slått i årevis, med de fleste høringer utsatt eller kansellert. Alexander har bodd i Namibia lenge etter at hans tidligere tidligere ledere kom ut av fengsel, og etter hvert flyr han i 200 gjester for sine sønner bar mitzvah i 2008. Men Alexander ignorerte ikke sine truende juridiske problemer i USA. Han til slutt slo opp flere søksmål hentet av Comverse-aksjonærer . Han ble også enige om å betale 60 millioner kroner til selskapet han grunnla, og droppet avslaget for 72 millioner i avgang. I 2010 avgikk han med Securities and Exchange Commission for mer enn 53 millioner, i hvilket byrået fakturert som en av de største bosetningene noensinne i en opsjons back-dating sak. Men straffesaken mot ham forblir den endelige løsenden, komplisert av det beryktede sakte rettshjulet i Namibia, og det faktum at dot-com æra-alternativene som ble hentet fra tidligere administrasjon, var ikke akkurat en topp prioritet i US Justice Department . Til tross for sin avreise fra Namibia vil Mr. Alexander og hans familie fortsette sitt veldedige arbeid i Namibia, sa Brafman i en uttalelse. Spesifikt, siden 2007 har Alexander-familien finansiert og drevet suppekjøkken i Namibia som har tjent mer enn 750 000 næringsrike måltider til barn i Katutura og Kuisebmond. Disse suppe kjøkkenene vil fortsette å operere, sysselsetter syv personer og mate 700 barn hver dag. Korreksjon: Denne historien ble revidert for å korrigere at Alexander bodde i Afrika etter å ha blitt anklaget. Han flyttet der før han ble anklaget i USA. Nicholas og Mr. Hyde Gå inn i min stue: Henry Nicholas i passasjen under hans Laguna Hills herskapshus. Av Mark BosterL. A. Times. 12. april 2008 ble det holdt en begravelse på Westwood Hills kristne kirke, som ligger rett over gaten fra U. C.L. A. for en mann som heter Robert Warnes Leach. Leach var en manusforfatter og lærer som var best kjent for sine skript for tv-serien Perry Mason. Men nekrologene nevnte også fremtredende at Leachx2019s stepton var Henry Nicholas, den 49 år gamle medgrunnleggeren av et svimlende vellykket halvlederfirma kalt Broadcom. Nicholas er en av verdens rikeste menx2014this år, Forbes satte sin nettoverdi på 1,8 milliarder kroner. På en middag holdt den kvelden på Beverly Wilshire-hotellet, Nicholas, som bidro til å planlegge arrangementet, ga en gripende tale og viste den samlete publikum hans favoritt episode av Perry Mason. Leach og Nicholasx2019s mor, Marcella, var gift da Nicholas var en ung gutt, og selv om Leach hadde vært syk i flere år og døde ved 93, sa Nicholas, venner, at han var bekymret for døden til mannen han kalte sin far. Noen dager senere annonserte Nicholasx2019s personlige advokat, Bill Hake, at Nicholasx2014, som hadde et rykte som en hard-core partyer, sjekket seg inn i Betty Ford Center for en måned med alkoholrehabilitering. x201CA siste blodoppgave viste et leveringspanel godt ute av det normale området, x201D sa Hake. Han la til, x201CNick ser verdien av livet, veiet mot hans fars død. x201D Men Nicholas, hvis navn er Dr. Henry Thompson Nicholas III (han har doktorgrad i elektroteknikk), så også noe annet kommer. I minst det siste året hadde han bekymret for at føderale anklagere undersøkte ham, og faktisk var de. Mindre enn to måneder etter begravelsen, 5. juni klarte justisdepartementet ikke en, men to føderale anklagelser. Nicholas var ansvarlig for sikkerhetssvindel for sin rolle i en påstått ordning der Broadcom lurte sine aksjonærer om hvor mye det var å betale ansatte ved å lyve om tidspunktet for aksjeopsjoner. Ifølge regjeringen, den tidligere finansdirektøren for selskapet, Bill Ruehle, som også ble anklaget, hadde henvist til ordningen som x201Cgolden gås, x201D og faktisk i mange år fungerte denne praksisen å øke opptjent fortjeneste Broadcom rapporterte til publikum . Itx2019 er det andre settet av avgifter, men det gjør Nicholasx2019s historie til noe mer enn en annen oppføring i annals av white-collar kriminalitet. I et anklager for narkotikahandel, maler regjeringen et bilde av en narkotikamann som hyret prostituerte for seg selv og sine kunder, brukte kokain, metamfetamin, Ecstasy, reseptbelagte smertestillende midler, og morex2014 og spikte drinker fra andre teknologiledere uten deres kunnskap. Nicholas pleide ikke skyldig, og i 2009 vil en jury mest sannsynlig bestemme sin skjebne på alle kostnader. Men siden 2000 ble mer enn et dusin mennesker som ble betalt av Broadcom og enige om å holde sine påstander hemmelige, ifølge prosecutorene har arkivert søksmål, utkast til klager eller støtteerklæringer som gjør at regjeringens påstand ser ut som den PG-nominelle versjonen av saker . Blant dem: at Nicholas bygde en forbløffende den av ondskap under hans lagune Hills-herregård med flere millioner dollar. x201CHe ønsket å leve over bakken med sin kone og tre barn, med muligheten til å gå under bakken for å fordype seg i hans kokain, ecstasy, Viagra, fart, prostituerte og festevenner, x201D påstod entreprenørene som hjalp med å bygge det de kalte x201Cthe Lair. x201D Den 5. juni i Santa Ana føderal domstol hevdet at nicholas, som er seks meter seks tommer, bør nektes kausjon på grunn av sin tilbøyelighet til vitnevansker (han har sagt at han burde ha drept mennesker, x201D ifølge anklager Ken Julian), hvor lett han kunne flykte (Nicholas eier en italiensk Agusta-helikopter samt Gulfstream IV og Cessna Citation) og den potensielle trusselen som dommeren refererte til som sin personlige hær. (Nicholasx2019s personlige sikkerhetshåndbok krever at tre væpnede guardsx2014 som ofte er tidligere rettshåndhevelse eller militærmennesker). I stedet slipper dommeren ham på 3,4 millioner borgere og tillot ham å returnere til et 63.000 per måned program ved en luksuriøs rehabilitering sentrum kalt Cliffside Malibu. Nå Nicholas, som i det siste kunne bli tyst (han sa en gang stolt ut, x201CI er et media-forhold mareritt, x201D og han var), har blitt stengt av hans advokater. Han ville ikke kommentere denne historien. Faktisk ville få kommentere på platen, delvis fordi Nicholas har et rykte for å være vindictive. (Som en person fortalte meg, x201CIf snakker jeg til deg, jeg får enten en dato med den amerikanske advokaten eller en dato med Nicholasx2019s advokater. x201D) Noen få lojale venner sier at Nicholas blir feilaktig påtalte, og at de mange rettssakene er innlevert mot Han er bare x201Cextortion, x201D som Chris Berman, en tidligere Navy seal og venn, setter den. (Og det ser ut til at det er noe av det.) Men for det meste er det en overraskende mangel på overraskelse eller sympati. x201CI donx2019t vet om historiene er sanne, men de er troverdige hvis du kjenner ham, x201D sier en person som pleide å jobbe med ham. x201CHe fortjener det han får. x201D x201Du føler deg lei for haien på slutten av Jaws x201D spør en annen person som kjenner Nicholas. En tidligere Broadcom-ansatt sier at på dagen da anklagene ble unsealed, ble hans innboks oversvømmet med meldinger fra sine tidligere medarbeidere og næringsfolk. Vi visste det. de sa alle. Hvis påstandene er sanne, er sagaen til Dr. Henry Nicholas sex og skandale skriftlig stor. Skyt under den sjokkerende overflaten, og du finner også enda mer foruroligende spørsmål. Hvilke hemmeligheter kan lure under den glatte faksen? En vellykket bedrift? Hva kan skje hvis noen med fantasien til en sexstultet tenåringsgutt og ingen personlige begrensninger kan brenne sine fantasier med en milliard dollar (og så noen) Og til slutt, hva er det om menneskelig natur x201CHenry Nicholas er et paradoks: en mann med en selvdestruktiv personlighet som skapte noe flott, x201D sier Roger McNamee, den kjente teknologibesiden, som møtte Nicholas i de tidlige årene av Broadcom. Fordi ingen antyder at Broadcomx2014, hvor chips brukes i alt fra Applex2019s iPhone til Nintendox2019s Wii, har inntekter nærmer seg 4 milliarder kroner, og sysselsetter 6,800 peoplex2014isnx2019t noe flott, eller at det ville ha eksistert uten Henry Nicholas. x201Hver karaktertrekk er et dobbeltkantet sverd, x201D sier en tidligere Broadcom-leder. x201C Det sterkeste punktet har et motspill. x201D Henry Nicholas voldtekt på kriminelle anklager var første gang han briste inn på scenen i en brann av publisitet. Den 17. april 1998, i midten av Internett-raseri, Broadcomx2014 som stod ut fra dagens dot-coms på grunn av det faktum at det faktisk hadde produsert profitx2014 ble offentliggjort på 4 en andel. Aksjene mer enn doblet, og ved slutten av handelsdagen, Nicholas og hans medstifter, en stille mann fem år hans senior som heter Dr. Henry Samueli, også en elektroteknikk Ph. D. hver var verdt 600 millioner. x201COne av de heteste opprinnelige offentlige aksjetilbudene, x201D raved The New York Times. Dette var dagene da teknologibestandene bare gikk opp, og noen seks måneder senere kalte Nicholas en venturekapitalistisk venn. x201Cx200Ax2018Ix2019m en milliardær Dette er fantastisk Det workx2019x200Ax201D han utbrød, sier denne personen. x201CHe var som et barn. Jeg sa, x2018Donx2019t ta det for ekte. Det ainx2019t real. x2019x200Ax201D Nicholasx2019s venn didnx2019t betyr at pengene i seg selv var virkelig, men at det kunne gi livet en farlig aura av unreality. På noen måter, Broadcomx2014 som lager sjetonger som gjør at stemme, video, data og multimedier kan reise med høye hastigheter til omtrent hvilken som helst destinasjon, fra kabelboks til trådløse nettverkx2014 er en klassisk høyteknologisk oppstartshistorie. I 1991 investerte Nicholas og Samueli hver 5.000 og gikk på jobb i Nicholasx2019s Redondo Beach condominium. Nicholas var C. E.O. mens Samueli var sjefsteknolog. Nicholas, som mange entreprenører, vokste opp med mye. Han ble født i Cincinnati i 1959. Hans fødselsfar, Henry T. Nicholas Jr., en advokat for I. R.S. kjempet med alkoholproblemer. (Han døde i 1986 i en alder av 57 år.) Nicholas fortalte Los Angeles Times at hans far var x201Cfairly abusivex201D til sin mor, Marcella. Da Henry var fire, separerte foreldrene sine, og Marcella falt til slutt for Santa Monica med ham og hans yngre søster, Marsalee. Marcella fortalte senere vennene historien om hvor ung Henry var sammen med Robert Leach, som hun giftet sig i 1967. x201Com, han vet navnet mitt, han sa da de først ble introdusert. I 1977 ble Nicholas, som gikk fra x201CNickx201D fra ung alder, uteksaminert fra High School of Santa Monica, hvor han deltok i x201CStrategy and Tacticsx201D-klubben, samt debatt, og ble utnevnt som en fremragende student. Han dro til United States Air Force Academy, nær Colorado Springs, men fortalte folk at han droppet ut etter tre år fordi han var for høy til å være en fighter pilot. Han fikk sin B. S. i elektroteknikk fra U. C.L. A. i 1982 og hans masterx2019s i 1985. I løpet av Nicholasx2019s år ved U. C.L. A. hans familie led et tragisk tap. I november 1983 ble Marsalee drept av en tidligere kjæreste, som hadde stalket henne. (Han truet med å begå selvmord, så skutt henne i hodet da hun prøvde å stoppe ham.) Marcella og Robert Leach, sammen med sena Ellen Griffin Dunne, ex-kone til Vanity Fair spesielle korrespondent Dominick Dunne og mor til Dominique Dunne, også drept av en tidligere kjæreste, grunnla rettferdighet for homofile ofre, som kjemper for victimsx2019 rettigheter. Nicholas snakker aldri om Marsaleex2019s mord, selv for å lukke venner, men gjennom årene har han viet tid og betydelige penger til årsaken. Henry Nicholas møtte Henry Samueli tidlig på 1980-tallet da de to mennene jobbet hos en forsvarsentreprenør kalt TRW. (Militæret er ofte på forkant med whiz-bang-teknologien.) Samueli var også det glimrende produktet av foreldre fra middelklasse. Han ble født i Buffalo, New York, til polske Holocaust-overlevende, og fikk sin Ph. D. fra U. C.L. A. i 1980 på 25 år. Samueli, som er akademisk i hjertet, forlot TRW i 1985 for å bli professor. Han overtalte Nicholas å bli med som sin første Ph. D. student. (Nicholas, som var mer interessert i virksomheten, ble endelig gitt sin Ph. D. fra UCLA i 1998, like før Broadcom ble offentlig. Dissertasjonstitel: x201CArchitectures, Optimaliseringsteknikker og VLSI Implementeringer for Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizers. x201D) Når Nicholas var på TRW, møtte han Stacey Feller, en elektriker ingeniør fem år yngre enn han. Hun vokste opp i Los Angeles, og folk som kjenner henne, beskriver henne som x201Cvery nicex201Dx2014 de samme ordene folk bruker til å beskrive Henry Samueli. Som Nicholas var hun høy og tynn. Hun virket uskyldig og demurex2014 en venn omtalte henne som x201Csuper naxEFvex201Dx2014 og var atletisk nok til å holde tritt med Nicholas på lange sykkelturer. I 1987 var de to gift. I 1993 ble bror født av parx2019s første sønn, etterfulgt av en andre sønn, Matthew, og i 1998, en datter, Shelby. I 1988 begynte Samueli å konsultere deltid for et annet oppstartsselskap, PairGain Technologies. Han tok Nicholas inn som direktør for mikroelektronikk. Nicholas var en kontroversiell figur. Han har sagt at han forlot PairGain fordi selskapet didnx2019t ønsket å forfølge sine ideer. Men tre tidligere PairGain-ansatte med kunnskap om situasjonen sier at det ikke er hele historien. PairGain oppdaget at Nicholas hadde begynt å dyrke sine egne forretningsinteresser på selskapstid, sier de. Nicholas forlot selskapet, han har innrømmet, x201Cwith mange vanskelige følelser rundt. X201D Man og Superman Nicholas utviklet også et rykte for ekstrem arroganse. En PairGain-ansatt pleide å si at han var overbevist om at han en dag ville hente papiret og se at Nicholas hadde blitt funnet, en bunke av bein og kjøtt, på bunnen av en 10-etasjers bygning, ikke fordi han hadde begått selvmord, men fordi han hadde prøvd å fly. Men det tok sannsynligvis noen med ubegrenset tro på seg selv for å starte Broadcom, som konkurrerer i en bransje dominert av Intelx2014, hvor lenge C. E.O. Andy Grove, mottok mottoet x201. Bare Paranoid Survive. x201D Nicholas, fra begynnelsen, gjorde ting sin egen måte. Han baserte selskapet ikke i Silicon Valley, hvor alle andre var, men i Orange County, den solfylte forstadsspredningen like sør for Los Angeles. På en tid da kleskoder var ostentatisk uformelle, hadde Nicholas tredelte suitsx2014 og insisterte på at andre på Broadcom passer også. Hans imperiale måte førte noen Wall Street-analytikere til å kalle ham x201CCzar Nicholas. x201D Nicholas fortalte andre på Broadcom at han var en sjelden personlighetstype som noen psykologer kaller x201Cthe Mastermind. x201D (The Myers-Briggs og Keirsey personlighetstester, som er store i MBA sirkler, gruppefolk i 16 forskjellige personlighetstyper, som Keirsey gir etiketter, slik som Healer og Inspector Masterminds utgjør bare 1 prosent av befolkningen.) Masterminds skal regne ut perfeksjonister som har en bortseelse for autorisasjonene, så vel som for andres følelser. x201Creative entreprenører har generelt et enkelt sinnet fokus, x201D sier McNamee. x201 Selv om de ikke skjønner at det kan være et annet synspunkt. x201D I hvert fall i de tidlige årene av Broadcom ble Nicholasx2019s arroganse ledsaget, kanskje til og med overskredet av hans arbeidsmoral. En person som jobbet med Nicholas, sier at han sov tre eller fire timer i natt, maks. x201CNick ble drevet til en feil, x201D sier denne personen. x201CBut fordi han jobber i disse timene, kan han levere mer, raskere, bedre enn noen. x201D Nicholas likte å fortelle pressen om hvordan hans luftmassetrening hadde lært ham å gå i 78 timer med bare noen få timer med sleepx2014or om hvordan han og Stacey bestemte seg for å indusere datterenes fødsel, slik at han kunne forlate en presentasjon til investorer da Broadcom skulle komme offentlig. For deres tiende bryllupsdag, som de feiret på Grand Wailea Resort, på Maui, i 2000x2014tree år latex2014Nicholas inviterte lederne av et selskap han vurderte å anskaffe seg for å bli med dem til middag en natt. x201C Det eneste som vil gjøre deg glad er å sette et mål, så drep deg selv for å oppnå det, x201D han fortalte Fortune i 1999. x201CI har en teori om at elasjonen du føler er direkte proporsjonal med de ofrene du gjør. x201D Nicholas krevde samme grad av hengivenhet fra de som jobbet for Broadcom. En investor husker å gå til et møte der rundt kl. 9. Det var bare en håndfull biler på parkeringsplassen, så han spurte om folk skulle reise. Han ble fortalt at nei, det var vanlig å få folk til å komme inn litt senere fra en kort lur, fordi theyx2019d jobbet ofte til seks eller syv om morgenen. Nicholas holdt møter klokka 3 a. m.x2014aktuelt, han holdt møter en time, hvilken som helst dag i uken, på sitt innfall. Han likte å påberope seg et militært uttrykk, R. H.I. P. eller x201CRank har sine privilegier. x201D Nicholas styrte av frykt, ikke kjærlighet. x201CHe kunne bli veldig stygg, x201D sier en tidligere ansatt. x201CHe var som en borsergeant. Hex2019d får en tomme fra ansiktet ditt og bruker kroppen sin til full effekt av det som en stor kropp kan formidle. X201D En gang på et to ukers møte for ledere, husker denne ex-stafferen, Nicholas var utilfreds med assistent controllerx2019s rapport. Så rullet han opp papirene inn i en tykk bar og smurte fyren over hodet med den. x201CYou kunne beskrive min tilnærming som jordforurvet, x201D Nicholas fortalte en reporter i 2000. x201CIt kan være brutal, men jobben min er å sørge for at hvis wex2019re kommer inn i et marked, er våre ansatte klare til å ta på ofrene i deres liv thatx2019ll være nødvendig for å vinne. x201D Og Nicholas gjorde sitt beste for å se på den delen av den alfa-mannlige administrerende direktøren Takket være et aggressivt treningsprogram, oppløste han opp, og han vokste den nerdy håndtaket bart ut i en goatee akkurat når goatees ble hip. På en pressekonferanse i 1999 som utlyste en 1 million-pluss donasjon til University of California i Irvine crew-teamet, utfordret han lagkaptenen til en spennende opptredenskonkurranse. Nicholas vant. Han var nerden som ble Superman. Hvis det var et element av sint teenage boyx2014, likte de å spøke dex2019d, nesten navnet selskapet Broads, og han bragged til journalister om hans lidenskap for heavy metal band som Metallica og Kornx2014well, gode entreprenører skulle være eksentriske. Balansen ved Broadcom skulle gis av Samueli, som ledet ingeniørgruppen. Stock analytikere kalt de to menn x201Cgood Henry og dårlig Henry, x201D eller x201Cwhite lue og svart hat. x201D I et 2000 intervju samvittet Samueli av Nicholasx2019s rykte. x201CNickx2019s fikk mer tillit til å være mer brash, ikke noe spørsmål, x201D sa han. x201Folk aksepterer det. Vi aksepterer alle det. x201D I sannhet kan ingen styre Nicholas. Samueli, si mange mennesker som jobbet med dem begge, var en ikke-konfronterende personlighet. En person husker en tid da Nicholas stormet inn på Samuelix2019s kontor, som var rett ved siden av seg selv. Han var sint på noen liten forseelse, ekte eller forestilt, og han snakket ham Samueli ut som om han var en fem år gammel, x201D sier denne personen. x201CIt var Satan og den hyggelige fyren, og Satan kjørte showet. x201D Men alt syntes å virke, i det minste for en tid. Nicholas var x201Clike en kult leder, x201D hans kone, Stacey, angivelig fortalte en av hans personlige assistenter. Cody Acree, lageranalytiker hos Stifel Nicolaus, som har dekket Broadcom siden 2000, sier, x201CAt slutten av dagen, itx2019s om å tjene penger, og hvis hex2019s leverer, så er itx2019s vanskelig å stille spørsmål til policy. x201D Pengene er absolutt en del av Årsaken til at Broadcom-ansatte tok Nicholasx2019s brutalitet. Det var ikke slik at Broadcom betalte høy lønn. Tvert imot: det var en avlønning på 110 000, som var mindre enn konkurrentene betalte. Men selskapet gjorde opp for det med alderenes valuta: aksjeopsjoner. På et tidspunkt i begynnelsen av 2000 tilbød Broadcom en Intel-ingeniør, og ønsket å ansette en fantastisk 9 millioner av dem, ifølge en prosedyre som Intel arkiverte. At Broadcom var aggressiv med aksjeopsjoner var ikke en hemmelighet, men den nøyaktige mekanikken til operasjonen var sikkert ikke godt forstått av utenforstående. I mange tilfeller sørget Broadcom for at opsjonene var verdt ekte penger på dagen de ble tildelt, hevder regjeringen. De gjorde det ved å velge en dag tidligere hvor aksjen hadde stengt til en lavere pris enn tildelingsdatoen. En hendelse som senere ble sentral i regjeringens påstander involverte ansettelsen av en ingeniør ved navn Mehrdad Nayebi våren 1999. Nayebi hevdet at han ble lovet et tilskudd på 120.000 opsjoner priset til 88.375, som var aksjekursen Broadcomx2019 da selskapet ble alvorlig om å gjøre ham et tilbud. Men da han faktisk var med i selskapet, ble hans alternativer i stedet priset til 95,75. Nayebi sendte e-post til Nancy Tullos, Broadcomx2019s visepresident for menneskelige ressurser, for å klage og sa at den lavere prisen hadde vært en x201Cmajor nøkkelbestemmende faktorx201D i sin beslutning om å godta en jobb hos Broadcom. Ifølge en samtykkeavtale inngikk Tullos senere med regjeringen, Broadcomx2019s valgkomitex, som besto av Henry Nicholas og Henry Samuelix, og gav Nayebi sine valg til lavere pris. Det var Nicholas, Securities and Exchange Commission vil senere hevde hvem som var den x201-finale beslutningstakeren og drivkraften bak Broadcomx2019s alternativer backdating. x201D (Samuelix2019s forsvar har fastholdt at Samueli med rimelighet stolte på ledelsen og andre fagfolk for å ta vare på riktig regnskapsføring av opsjoner.) Dette ville være bra hvis Broadcom hadde fortalt aksjonærene hva det var å gjøre. Under de torturerte reglene som styrte aksjeopsjonsregnskapet på det tidspunktet, hvis du fikk en opsjon på 10 aksjer, og aksjen handlet til 10 aksjer, måtte du reflektere en kompensasjonsavgift. Men hvis du valgte en dato to uker tidligere, fordi aksjen solgte for 6 den dagen, og dermed gjorde opsjonen verdt 4 dagen da medarbeideren fikk det, måtte du reflektere 4 av kompensasjonskostnaden i regnskapet. Det ville redusere fortjenesten du rapporterte, og kan føre til lavere aksjekurs. Hvis noen i Broadcom holdt seg pause for å tenke på hva som skjedde, tenkte de ikke, x201CWex2019 løy til aksjonærene. x201D De trodde, x201CWex2019re å skape den nye økonomien, og vi fortjener det, x201D sier en tidligere ansatt. Ikke så mange stoppet for å tenke. I august 2000 rammet Broadcomx2019s aksje 182,42 en aksje, som verdsatt selskapet på mer enn 60 milliarder x 2014 mer enn den samlede verdien av Amazon og Yahoo todayx2014 og gjorde de to Henrys verdt over 10 milliarder hver. Orange County Register rapporterte at gjennomsnittlig Broadcom-medarbeider var verdt 5,81 millioner. Parkeringen var full av Lamborghinis og Porsches. Henrys begynte ikke bare å bruke penger, men også gi det bort. Samueli donerte 30 millioner til U. C.L. A.x2019s ingeniørskole og 20 millioner til U. C. Irvinex2019s ingeniørskole, som begge ble omdøpt til hans ære. Senere, Samueli og hans kone, Susan, betalte 70 millioner til Disney for Anaheim Ducks hockey team. Nicholas begynte å donere til politiske kampanjerx2014en har vært en av Arnold Schwarzeneggerx2019s beste givere. Han kjøpte et flyselskap som heter Prestige Air, som eide tre jetfly og et helikopter. (Prestige Air became part of a lawsuit with the I. R.S. which contended that the Nicholases owed some 4.4 million in back taxes and penalties in part because they improperly wrote off the losses from Prestige Air.) Nicholas also bought toys, among them a Harley-Davidson and a black Lamborghini Diablo. And the Nicholases began to renovate their house. Since the mid-1990s, theyx2019d lived in one of the nicest areas of Laguna Hills, a neighborhood called Nellie Gail Ranch that features 20 miles of equestrian trails, and where a 5,000-square-foot house is considered small. A week after Broadcomx2019s I. P.O. they bought a much bigger property a few doors down in the same cul-de-sacx2014called Rodeo Circlex2014for 1.7 million. They immediately began a remodeling project. The initial budget was 400,000, but the projected bill would balloon to more than 30 million, according to a lawsuit the contractors drafted laterx2014and the project would become the physical manifestation of the dark fantasies in Nicholasx2019s mind. If You Build It, They Will Come Imagine, if you will, a secret warren of rooms filled with any amenity you could ask forx2014from top-of-the-line sound equipment to a Jacuzzix2014decorated in an extravagant style that could be described as Harem Fantasy Gone Wild. The ceilings are over 12 feet high. One room has a central column covered in 24-karat gold leaf. A series of large buttresses, also covered in gold, radiate from the central column, which in turn is surrounded by seating for 10. Fabulous materials and artifacts cover every square inch: brocade from Spain, lustrous red velvets, arches carved in India, statues of Buddha and Shiva, Persian rugs. One person who worked on the space is almost at a loss for words when asked to describe it. x201CIt was so over the top, x201D he says. x201CYou have never seen anything like it. x201D x201CNick wanted me to be as creative as possible, x201D says Russ Butler, the artist and designer who decorated the space. x201CMore and more was better. x201D He adds: x201CI wish the whole world could have seen it. x201D While the average investor in Broadcom never heard a whisper, by as early as 2000 the Wall Street community was rife with rumors about Nicholas. A story began to make the rounds that, during a meeting with a major investor, he had a nosebleedx2014which was interpreted as a symptom of a cocaine habit. Nicholasx2019s former assistant at Broadcom, a woman named Beth Kuhns, told the F. B.I. that when she began working for him, in 1998, he was x201Ccontrolling and detail-oriented, x201D and required her to work x201Clong and intense hours, x201D but was otherwise normal. But, she said, he soon began requiring her to withdraw cash from his bank account. He wanted to have at least 10,000 in a locked desk in his office or in a black bag that he carried with him. Once, he gave her an envelope with x201Cthousands of dollars in cash in it and directed her to meet a woman in Broadcomx2019s offices. x201D The woman took the envelope and gave Kuhns another, which, in its drug-trafficking indictment, the government says contained x201Ccontrolled substances. x201D While the governmentx2019s contention that his drug use amounted to a narcotics conspiracyx2014i. e. distributing drugsx2014has not been proved, it is hard to deny that Nicholas has used drugs. Maybe his problems were brought on by his desire to operate at a superhuman pace. Maybe, as one person who hung out with him says, x201Chis money came too fast and it opened the door to things he wanted. He was married, he had kids, but he saw something else out there that money could get him. He was kind of a geeky dude. I donx2019t see him going out with girls in high school, and now here he is with the world at his feet. x201D Or maybe a woman named Mirjana Dumnjak, who knew Nicholas during this period, puts it best. x201CYou know what they say about borderline geniusesx201D she asks. x201CTheyx2019re also borderline crazy. x201D Whatever it was, Nicholas changed quickly. Within about a year and half of Broadcomx2019s I. P.O. he went from what one neighbor says was a x201Csuper-nice guy who just wanted to make friendsx201D and who had barbecues in his backyard to someone who was x201Cjust out there. x201D Says this person, x201CI think hex2019s a victim of bad judgment and bad friends. x201D Whether his friends were a bad influence or not, it is true that Nicholas started hanging out with some new people at that time. Among them was a charismatic contractor named Roman James, who began the renovation project at the Nicholasesx2019 in the spring of 1998. (James is Dumnjakx2019s ex-boyfriend.) At the time, James was in his early 30s and almost as tall as Nicholas. He is a good-looking man with dark hair and blue eyes, an easy charm, and a quick wit. He may not have had much money, but Dumnjak and other beautiful women would stop by his various jobs. Hex2019d designed a neighborx2019s pool, which Nicholas admired, and he talked his way past the New York and London architecture firms that Nicholas was going to hire. He also began to work on Henry Samuelix2019s home. Nicholas and James, along with another man, Bill Nutton, who had met James while both were working in Las Vegas, began to hang out together. James gave Nicholas advice on how to be more cool, says one person, who adds that Nicholas had a x201Cboy crushx201D on James. Dumnjak says that James, in turn, decided he could be Nicholasx2019s x201Cparty adviser, x201D as she puts it, not merely his contractor. (Of course, Nicholas wasnx2019t in the habit of taking advice from others. x201COnce he got out in the world, he approached going out like a hostile takeover, x201D says a person who spent time with him.) In a declaration taken in a lawsuit filed later, Nutton said that he, Nicholas, and James began riding Nicholasx2019s Harley-Davidsons together and x201Cpartying quite extensively, x201D both at the jobsite and on frequent excursions. They took Nicholasx2019s plane to Las Vegas, where Nicholas eventually acquired a condominium on the 32nd floor of Turnberry Place. Nicholas even bought James a car: a red Ferrari. The contractor, says one observer, x201Cwas living very high on the hog. x201D Dumnjak, who says that she accompanied the men to Las Vegas on one occasion, recalls that when Nicholas hired prostitutes he x201Cwas like a guy who hasnx2019t eaten in 10 days and finally saw a steak. x2026 He was kissing them like a high-school guy would kiss his girlfriend. x201D According to Dumnjak, she once asked him why he behaved this way, given his family and his apparent respect for his wife. (x201CHe was always very complimentary of her, x201D she says.) x201CI love my wife, but itx2019s just something I want to do, x201D he replied. James and Nutton werenx2019t the only members of Nicholasx2019s growing entourage. He hired Craig Gunther, a U. C.L. A.-trained engineer who had a law degree, to manage his personal affairs and money. Within a few years, Gunther and his wife moved into what had been the Nicholasesx2019 first house on Rodeo Circle. In the fall of 1999, Nicholas also hired as his personal assistant a young man named Kenji Kato, who was getting his joint M. B.A. and J. D. from Pepperdine University, in Malibu. Kato helped arrange what he described as x201Clavish events, dinners, concerts, parties fit for only Billionaires. x201D As part of a lawsuit he would later file, Kato observed that x201Cit was normal for him Nicholas to attempt to have sex with as many women as possible. x201D It seems that Nicholas eventually became disillusioned with some of the people who wanted to be his friends. In 2004, he told a reporter, x201CThere is a whole cottage industry of parasites who make it their business to be friends of billionaires. The problem is that because they have an agenda, they are often better with you than your real friends, who donx2019t know how to act with you anymore. x201D But that was later, and for a short period it was all just a party. To celebrate his 40th birthday, in October 1999, Nicholas paid the band Orgyx2014an L. A.-based group that described itself as x201Cnu Metalx201Dx201450,000 to play. He had a huge stage built at the Rodeo Circle house. There were gigantic ice sculptures, and the guests included bankers, lawyers, people from the neighborhood, and what one attendee describes as x201Cwomen by themselves dressed scantily with a lot of makeup. x201D x201CIt was the most surreal scene ever, x201D says another attendee. Before the party, according to one pal, Nicholas bragged that nine different women he was datingx2014none of whom knew about the othersx2014were coming. At one point, he jumped up on the stage, ripped off his shirtx2014x201CHex2019s cut and he knows it, x201D says another attendeex2014and sang with the band. He had one request: x201CMy birthday present from you all to me: Please forget this night. x201D Stacey didnx2019t appear to relish her new lifestyle. She did have breast implants, say three people who know her. x201CShe was trying to be more of the cool chick, x201D says Dumnjak. But Stacey, whom everyone describes as unpretentious, refused to drive her new Mercedes, instead sticking with an old forest-green Chrysler minivan. She still shopped at Target, and told one person that shex2019d trade it all in to be back in the condominium in Redondo Beach and have her husband home the way he used to be. Therex2019s a twist to Nicholasx2019s story, according to some of the allegations against him, that makes it something darker than a tale of a man whose personal eccentricities got the better of him. The government and former employees allege that he thought he could use drugs and prostitutes to get an advantage in business. As prosecutor Andrew Stolper put it, Nicholas was x201Cnot in the business of making a living by dealing drugs. He was in the business of using drugs for his business. x201D Kenji Kato, who helped organize events for Broadcom, also alleged in his lawsuit that he would see Nicholas put x201Cpowdered ecstasy pills into the drinks of his customers. I would see him usually carefully measure the dosage. x2026 I had to look the other way when Nicholas secretly x2018spikedx2019 clients, prospective clients and third partiesx2019 drinks with illegal drugs. x201D Mehrdad Nayebix2014the engineer who was granted the stock optionsx2014contended in a draft lawsuit in late 2000 that Nicholas also x201Chad a practice of hiring prostitutes to x2018greetx2019 visiting customers, other business associates, and for himself. x201D Nicholas called the prostitutes x201Cprofessional saleswomen, x201D says another person who did business with Broadcom. One former executive recalls getting out of the elevator at Broadcomx2019s offices and saying to himself, x201CShex2019s a prox201D He adds, x201CI felt like I just walked out of a Las Vegas nightclub. Am I really on the third floor of an office building in Irvinex201D Dumnjak says that Nicholas used to tell her that x201CI can do all this stuff and be productive the next day. x201D But if Superman could do that once, he soon began to slip. His assistant, Beth Kuhns, told the F. B.I. that he began to x201Cdisappear for periods of time and miss important meetings. x201D She would x201Creceive incoherent calls x2026 where he would speak nonsensex201D to her. She eventually couldnx2019t take it anymore and hired a lawyer to arrange her exit from the company. But, Kuhns claimed, when she met with Gunther and Nicholas to negotiate a settlement, their behavior was so erratic that her lawyer called off the meeting. Kuhns and her lawyer instead worked out a settlement with Broadcom, separate from Gunther and Nicholas. In June 2002, Kuhns left Broadcom, which paid her 1 million of shareholdersx2019 money in exchange for her silence, according to prosecutors. As for Mehrdad Nayebi, he was fired (for x201Cincompetence, x201D according to a Nicholas lawyer), but he too got money: stock options worth over 7 million at the timex2014again, money that came out of shareholdersx2019 pocketsx2014also with the provision that he keep his allegations quiet. (Broadcom has noted that it routinely includes confidentiality provisions in employment agreements, and has said that the core of each of these settlements had nothing to do with allegations about Nicholas.) Nicholasx2019s company was also slipping by this timex2014badly. The dot-com bubble had burst in 2000, and what Nicholas later called the x201Cworst downturn in semiconductor historyx201D was well under way. Broadcom lost money in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Its stock pricex2014as high as 182.42 on August 24, 2000x2014began to plummet and eventually hit a low of 6.47 on October 7, 2002. One board member later told The Wall Street Journal that x201Cno one was really at the wheel. x201D But if neither Broadcomx2019s performance nor Nayebix2019s and Kuhnsx2019s accusations jolted the board into action, something else may have. They found out about the lair. It had started innocently enough. Dumnjak claims it was her idea for a tunnel leading down to a series of interconnecting rooms between the housex2019s library and the gym, where Nicholas was building a 2,000-square-foot sports bar he would call Nickx2019s CafxE9. In the library, which was decorated in dark custom-carved woods and green granite, a hinged panel opened toward the passageway. The tunnel, says Butler, had a x201Ccoolness factorx201D: the faux stone walls had impressions of skulls carved into niches, which were lit by candelabras. x201CIt was that castle-y look that guys like, x201D he says. Butler, who still counts Nicholas as a friend, says that in 2000, after a wild party was shut down by neighborsx2019 complaints, the project was expanded to create a place where Nicholas could carouse in private. Butler agreed to comment for this story because he is upset that his work, which he says was x201Cbeautiful, x201D is being described as a sex lair. But in their lawsuit, the contractors alleged it was exactly that. In August 2000, they said, Nicholas decided, unbeknownst to his wife, to expand the tunnel into a x201Csecret and convenient lair in which he could indulge his appetite for illegal drugs and sex with prostitutes. x201D Building the lair presented an engineering challenge because the Nicholasesx2019 house is on a hill that cuts sharply down toward the horse trail behind the house. Nicholas grew frustrated with the slow pace of the secret construction, and he took Stacey to Hawaii for a weekx2019s vacation. During that time, hundreds of men worked around the clock. The contractors designed a multitude of entrances and exits, says one person familiar with the construction: a staircase in the sports bar that lifted up, Munsters - like an entrance covered by rock near the wine cellar even an exit onto the horse trail, disguised by a faux shed made to resemble other manure-pickup sites on the trail. Not surprisingly, neighbors, who had grown impatient with the construction, began to complain, particularly when they found their access to the horse trail blocked by armed guards. Says one, who thought maybe a helicopter pad was being built, x201CIt was hard to miss that something was going on, but no one knew what. x201D They called Laguna Hills city officials, who discovered that there was no permit for the construction. The project was promptly shut down. When a Los Angeles Times reporter called Nicholas about the neighborsx2019 complaints, he explained he was building a pump house to deal with water overflow along the horse trail. x201CI wanted to make the horse trail around our property the nicest in the whole community, x201D he told the reporter. When construction was halted, Nicholas, say the contractors, decided to build a backup. He rented space in a warehouse in a gritty industrial district of auto-body shops about a five-minute drive from his house. Inside, he had the contractors build an exact replica of what he wanted under the Rodeo Circle house. Because the space under his house was irregularly shaped, the contractors even built out the rectangular warehouse space to identical irregular specifications, says one person familiar with the work. This was the Ponderosa, or x201Cthe Pond, x201D as it came to be known. According to Butler, who says the dxE9cor was inspired in part by his visit to Burma, a visitor would enter through a passageway where the ceilings were tented with fabrics. Jewel-like hanging lamps spotlighted a large brass statue of Ganesh. Then you would step down into a large octagonal room dominated by a central column. The ceiling of that room was a gilt lattice with a star pattern, backlit with sophisticated lighting that could strobe and change color. Butler used mostly red and gold in the decorating scheme because, he says, it was x201Cmasculine and very imperial. x201D There was a flat-screen TV that was one of the largest available at the time, and a bar made from an antique European buffet re-covered in granite. Nicholas came to like the Pond so much that he kept it. And while Butler says it was an innocent spotx2014he describes it as a x201Csymbiosis between spirituality and technologyx201Dx2014others view it a little differently. The government alleges that Nicholas x201Chosted numerous partiesx201D at the Pond x201Cduring which he supplied controlled substances such as cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana to his guests. x201D The contractors called it Nicholasx2019s x201Cown personal brothel. x201D There was just one rule for those who came to party at the Pond, says one person: you couldnx2019t leave before Nicholas did. It was at the Pond that Stacey caught Nicholas, according to the contractors. They said that Nicholas took her to Beaver Creek, Colorado, where the family owned a condominium, for vacation in May 2002. He left early, blaming work, and headed to the Pond. Stacey returned home, too. Shex2019d found out about the Pondx2014it wouldnx2019t have been hard for a smart wife to figure out something was up with her husbandx2014and she headed over. There she x201Ccaught Nicholas having sex with a prostitute while high on drugs, x201D said the contractors, in a red-and-gold room with a carved wooden ceiling and a gigantic bed. She filed for divorce. Soon, a furious wife wasnx2019t Nicholasx2019s only problem. In the fall of 2002, a group of seven contractors who had worked on the project, including James, hired a lawyer to draft a lawsuit against Nicholas. The contractors contended that Nicholas used x201Cmanipulation, lies, intimidation, and even death threatsx201D to stiff them on the bulk of the money they were due. He also allegedly told them hex2019d have them killed if they ever talked about him or the work they did. The lawsuit wouldnx2019t become public until years later. Broadcomx2019s shareholders never knew. But Broadcomx2019s board did, because the contractors also named Samueli and Broadcom itself in the lawsuit. Perhaps they thought that the pressure those parties would bring to bear on Nicholas increased their chances of getting paid, and it seems it did. James Traut, the lawyer for the contractors, recalls an emergency Sunday-afternoon meeting with lawyers for Nicholas, who had just returned from celebrating his birthday in Spain. Nicholas settled the complaint for roughly 3 million, says one person. Paying the Piper On January 23, 2003, Nicholas announced his resignation to investors on a conference call. x201CEffective today I have resigned as president and C. E.O. of Broadcom. This has been a difficult personal decision for me, and one that has been driven entirely by personal issues relating to my family separation and divorce. x201D That was no lie. After all, Nicholas did have serious family issues. But it doesnx2019t appear to be the whole truth, either. Some members of Broadcomx2019s board had grown disillusioned with Nicholas due to his performance, and the company started exploring the idea of looking for a new C. E.O. in the fall of 2002. In November, Broadcom appointed a board member, Alan E. x201CLannyx201D Ross, as interim chief operating officer. Within a few weeks of Rossx2019s arrival, the company laid off 500 people to cut costs. Around the same time, it found out about the contractorsx2019 suit. Nicholas took time off in December and January before finally announcing his departure in late January. Publicly, Nicholas and Stacey talked about reconciling, but in 2006, divorce proceedings began in earnest again. She stayed in the Rodeo Circle house. The lair was demolished. Nicholas moved to a Tuscan-style mansion in a gated community in Newport Coast, just to the north of Laguna. The divorce has clearly been acrimonious, which isnx2019t surprising, given that the two have to divvy up, among other assets, 32.9 million shares of Broadcom, worth more than 720 million at the time of this writing. The divorce file has been sealed, but according to the Los Angeles Times, it contains x201Ccompeting allegations of drug abuse and infidelity. x201D In 2006, Nicholas filed a petition alleging that Stacey had formed a company called Captain Enterprises x201Cto compete directlyx201D with several companies Nicholas owned. These new companies existed to manage Stacey and Nicholasx2019s personal affairs. Nicholas accused Stacey of hiring his people and requested that she not waste the assets of their joint trust. The petition was eventually dismissed. Nicholas seems to have continued on a downward spiral after leaving Broadcom. Kenji Kato, in his lawsuit against Nicholas, alleged that over the seven years he worked for Nicholas he struggled with Nicholasx2019s x201Cincreasingly abusive and intolerable conductx201D as his x201Csexual cravings and drugs overpowered his life. x201D He said, x201CAt times, Nick could not remember what he ordered me to do the day before x2026 his thought processes were impeded by his constant drug abuse. x201D Kato added, x201CIt was very sad to see him like this, the Nick that I first met was much stronger and healthier than the person I ultimately came to work for. x201D Like some of the other members of Nicholasx2019s entourage, Kato doesnx2019t seem to be a saint. He has admitted that he has used drugs, too, although he claims that the x201Cfirst time I used cocaine was when Nick shoved a tiny spoon up my nose because I was falling asleep while he was talking to me. x201D After he quit working for Nicholas, in the spring of 2006, his lawyer presented a demand for 9 million, telling Nicholas that, if he did not agree, Kato would go public with his allegations. Nicholas appeared to settle the suit for 3 million but then backed out of the negotiations and filed his own lawsuit against Kato alleging extortion and asking for a restraining order. Kato ended up filing his case anyway, in November 2006. Four other people who worked for Nicholas filed supporting declarations in Katox2019s lawsuit, all of which paint a sordid picture of life at the Newport Coast house during 2005 and 2006. Gerald Wada, who worked for Nicholas for four months in 2006, says that he was regularly x201Cordered to fill up up to 20 balloons of nitrous oxide and deliver them to Dr. Nicholas, or when I was required to clean up after Dr. Nicholas, I frequently found remnants of usage of drugs, such as a straw and plate, residue of cocaine, nitrous oxide balloons, and alcohol. x201D Todd Murakami, who was Nicholasx2019s personal assistant and security guard during that same period, says that he would regularly x201Cfind bloody Kleenex around the house. Wex2019d have to buy him Saline by the case to rinse his nose out. x201D But it would be misleading to say that Nicholas has no supporters. Because of Marsaleex2019s murder, he had thrown himself passionately into the cause of criminal justice, and there is a lot of loyalty to him among the community of people who have lost loved ones to homicide. His biggest battle was in the fall of 2004, when California was about to pass a law known as Proposition 66. It would have limited the statex2019s x201Cthree strikesx201D rule, by which someone who has been convicted of two violent crimes can be sentenced to life for a third felony. Thatx2019s when Nicholas, at his motherx2019s urging, got to know Steve Ipsen, a veteran prosecutor who was doing his best to thwart Proposition 66. The measure looked like it was going to pass until Nicholas got involvedx2014the weekend before the Tuesday, November 2, vote. x201CWhen Nick is into something, hex2019s into it, x201D says Ipsen, and indeed, over a frantic weekend, the two men cut a deal to take over the radio airwavesx2014paid for by some 3 million of Nicholasx2019s moneyx2014and put together two ads. Nicholas even sent his plane to Oakland to get former California governor Jerry Brown to record an ad. The ballot issue, which was supposed to pass by a considerable margin, didnx2019t. x201CThe truth is: he did it, x201D says Ipsen about Nicholas. A few years later, on September 25, 2007, Nicholas flew his private jet to Soledad for the parole hearing of Kerry Michael Conley, who was convicted in 1985 of the murder of Marsalee. At least 100 members of victimsx2019 groups also protested Conleyx2019s parole in front of the prison. (The parole was denied, and Conley died last winter in prison.) On the way home, Ipsen introduced Nicholas to a woman named Shari Martin, whose son had been murdered, and who was starting her own chapter of a group for relatives of homicide victims. Nicholas promptly wrote her a check for 10,000. x201CI didnx2019t ask, x201D she says. x201CHe volunteered it. x201D She sees a very different Henry Nicholas. x201CThe man is a genius, but he comes down to our level, x201D she says. Among other awards, Nicholas has received the Ronald Reagan Award for Pioneering Achievement in Criminal Justice. Therex2019s a chance that the allegations about the seamier side of Nicholasx2019s life would have remained gossip behind the Orange Curtain, as some residents call Orange County, masked by his charitable work, his money, and his army of lawyers, had it not been for something about as far removed from sex and drugs as you can imagine: accounting. Part of the ugly aftermath of the dot-com boom has been a massive government investigation into charges that many companies, such as Broadcom, accounted inaccurately for the stock options they doled out. Thus far, nearly 200 companies have disclosed that they engaged in so-called stock-options backdating, in which they granted options at a date in the past without telling shareholders they were doing so. Roughly two dozen executives have been charged with committing fraud. In a high-profile case, Greg Reyes, who was the C. E.O. of a technology company called Brocade Communications, was convicted of fraud last January and sentenced to 21 months in jail. In some quarters, particularly in Silicon Valley, there is the attitude that the government is trying to criminalize accounting sloppiness, and that, anyway, entrepreneurs like Nicholas create such value that they should be given a pass. x201CItx2019s like after the gold rush in America, trying to enforce trespassing laws, x201D says Ipsen. x201CImagine what America could be like if Broadcom, Apple, and the other 250 companies now accused of backdating options didnx2019t exist Where would we bex201D There are others who argue, however, that there is a simple word for taking something from shareholders without telling them youx2019re taking it: theft. And if itx2019s theft, then by one measure, there is no company in America whose executives allegedly stole on as grand a scale as Broadcom did. In June 2006, Broadcom announced that it had received an informal inquiry into its stock-option practices from the Securities and Exchange Commission. At the end of that year, the company announced the results of its internal investigation. It conceded that x201Ccertain executives and employees selected numerous grant dates after the fact. x201D Then, on January 23, 2007x2014four years after Nicholasx2019s departurex2014Broadcom announced that it would take total charges of 2.2 billion in order to account for the cost of the options. That is the largest charge taken by any U. S. company that has been caught up in the options scandal. Broadcom laid the blame on Bill Ruehle, who had resigned as C. F.O. that fall due to the stock-option review former human-resources vice president Nancy Tullos and Nicholas, who, the company said, x201Cbears significant responsibility for the lack of adequate controls in the option granting process due to the tone and style of doing business he set. x201D Itx2019s hard to see how what happened at Broadcom could be chalked up to mere sloppiness, argues the government. In 2000, for instance, the government says that Ruehle and Nicholas were informed by Broadcomx2019s accountants that they might have to take a big stock-option-related charge. Ruehle told Nicholas, x201CObviously, we are not about to let this happen. x201D And you can see why: if Broadcom had properly reflected the costs, according to the S. E.C. complaint, its 2000 operating income would have been reduced by 442 million. Itx2019s true that Nicholas himself was Broadcomx2019s largest shareholder, so the practice hurt him too. But itx2019s also true that he sold more than 1 billion of his Broadcom stock during this period. It was inevitable that prosecutors would start poking around Nicholasx2019s personal life, given the ample rumors. By the spring of 2007, Nicholas knew that investigators were asking questions. Thatx2019s when, on a trip to Oakland on one of his private jets, he took personal adviser Craig Gunther to the back of the plane and, according to prosecutors, accused him of wearing a wire and working with the feds. Gunther told the F. B.I. that Nicholas had said he would x201Cchase him to the ends of the earthx201D if he x201Cscrewed himx201Dx2014and then struck him in the face. (Nicholasx2019s lawyers contest this. Although they acknowledge there was an x201Cincident, x201D they say they donx2019t accept that x201Cthere was sic threats made. x201D) Gunther, it seems, wasnx2019t cooperating. In fact, that August, prosecutors charged him with a somewhat obscure crime: avoiding currency-reporting regulations that require a bank to file a report when more than 10,000 is withdrawn from an accountx2014in this case, by repeatedly cashing checks to Nicholasx2019s account for just under the limit. That is, says the government, x201Cconsistent with someone purchasing substantial quantities of narcotics. x201D Indeed, from early 2006 to early 2007, one employee wrote 129 checks on Nicholasx2019s account, payable to cash, for a cumulative 689,685.42. Only a few were for over 10,000. Almost all were signed by Gunther. Many were cashed only minutes apart. It was a sign of Nicholasx2019s belief in his own invincibility or perhaps of his addiction that he apparently continued using drugs even after he knew he was under investigation. A video surreptitiously taken of him in Las Vegas on July 24, 2007, shows him looking disheveled in slacks and a button-down shirt open to mid-chest. He appears to be snorting cocaine at a desk in an ornate bedroom with carved-wood mirrors and a carved-wood headboard. At one point, a slender woman wearing a sports bra walks in. (Nicholasx2019s lawyers have said that the video represents x201Cone incident of recreational drug abuse. x201D) Prosecutors got wind of another suspicious incident that occurred in the fall of 2007. On November 24, Nicholas, driving his Lamborghini along Newport Coast Drive with his son in the car, crashed into a light pole with such force that he sheared it at the base. Nicholas left the scene, and his bodyguardx2014a former navy seal named Stephen x201COtterx201D Otten, who had won a Bronze Star for his duty in Fallujah and Baghdadx2014told the police that he had been driving. He later expensed his ticket to Nicholas. The truth might not have come out but for an anonymous tipster who, saying he had worked for Nicholas, called the police. Nicholas, he said, x201Cwas a very powerful man, x201D and he feared retribution. Today, when you drive through Broadcomx2019s parking lot in the late morning, itx2019s filled with employeesx2019 cars, and the cars are staid and serious. Revenues have more than tripled since Nicholasx2019s departure, and the company now has over 4,000 patentsx2014more than 15 times the number it had when Nicholas left. Under its new C. E.O. Scott McGregor, the company has made a big bet that it will be able to crack the cell-phone market, which could once again make Broadcom a hot, high-growth company, says analyst Cody Acree. But its success is far from assured, and at this point Nicholasx2019s legacy is not helping. Nancy Tullos has pleaded guilty in the stock-option case and is cooperating with prosecutors. The company paid 12 million to settle S. E.C. charges that it falsified its books, and has had to set up a special litigation committee to deal with all of the shareholder lawsuits coming its way. Henry Samueli pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the S. E.C. He told the commission that he had no role in granting stock options, which was not true. He agreed to pay a 12 million fine and struck a deal with prosecutors for five years of probation, but the judge overseeing his and Nicholasx2019s case rejected the deal. x201CThe 12 million payment, x201D wrote the judge, x201Csuggests that Dr. Samuelix2019s wealth and popularity will allow him to avoid the consequences of his alleged misconduct at Broadcom. The court cannot accept a plea agreement that gives the impression that justice is for sale. x201D It is unclear what will happen next. Samueli has had to step down as Broadcomx2019s chairman and take a leave from the board, has been indefinitely suspended from the National Hockey League as the owner of the Anaheim Ducks, and is facing the removal of his name from the U. C.L. A. and U. C. Irvine schools of engineering. As for Nicholas, he is out of Cliffside Malibu and living in another Tuscan-style Newport Coast mansion, which he bought from Marie and Robert Gray, the founders of St. John Knits, for 19.5 million. His travel is restricted to the central district of California. He has burned through lawyers but, in this case, he seems to have settled on his own Perry Mason: Brendan Sullivan, the Williams amp Connolly lawyer who defended Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North in the Iran-contra case, among other high-profile clients. Sullivan claims that the questions presented to him for comment were x201Crife with inaccuraciesx201D and that x201CDr. Nicholas intends to defend himself in court, however, not in the pages of Vanity Fair. x201D All signs say that Henry Nicholas will go to trial. If hex2019s found guilty of all the charges, he could spend many years in jail. You could argue that it was all necessary, that if Nicholas wasnx2019t such an extremist he also wouldnx2019t have built such a successful company. Or maybe not. Says one former executive, x201CCould he have done what he did without the insanity I think he could have. He had a wife and kids and a wonderful company, and he let a piece of him take over. x201D A few years ago, Nicholas, in a moment of self-reflection, said, x201CAll Ix2019ve done is make money. Ix2019ve achieved none of my goals. x201D Now therex2019s a chance he never will. Maybe the cartoon characters Calvin and Hobbes sum it up best: x201CDo you believe in the Devilx201D Calvin asks. x201CYou know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of manx201D Replies Hobbes, x201CIx2019m not sure that man needs the help. x201D Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor.
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