Texans may be interested in learning that Henry Nicholas, the co-founder of chip maker Broadcom, has been arrested and charged with drug trafficking in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nicholas was reportedly arrested on Aug. 9 by officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
According to law enforcement officers, security personnel at the Encore Hotel called the police to report that Nicholas had contraband in his room. Upon searching his hotel room, officers reportedly found ecstasy, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Nicholas and a female companion were taken into custody and charged with drug trafficking.
Nicholas started Broadcom with $5,000 of his own money in 1991. The company makes chips that are found in many electronic devices and has grown to become one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Nicholas, who is 59 years old, retired from the company in 2002. His estimated worth is currently $3.1 billion. Nicholas previously faced drug charges in 2010 that were later dropped. According to a legal analyst, drug trafficking charges can be filed simply based on the amount of drugs that a person possesses or even if the person simply shares drugs with someone else.
Drug trafficking is treated very harshly under the law. People who are convicted of drug trafficking and other serious drug offenses may face decades in prison. People who are facing charges may want to retain experienced criminal defense attorneys as soon as possible. Doing so early may allow the attorneys to have more time to thoroughly investigate the cases and to build stronger defenses against the charges. The attorneys may seek the suppression of some of the evidence against their clients and negotiate with the prosecutors to try to secure more favorable outcomes.
Source: Gizmodo, “Broadcom’s billionaire co-founder arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking“, Rhett Jones, Aug. 10, 2018
