Nicholas leaves Flavin in ha'penny place

THE RELUCTANCE of DCC's Jim Flavin to resign from his post as CEO, despite the Supreme Court finding that he unlawfully engaged in insider trading, was proof of low standards in high places, according to many Irish critics.

Heaven knows what they would make of the goings-on in California, where the billionaire former chief executive of technology giant Broadcom has just been indicted on charges of fraud, conspiracy and drug possession and distribution.

Henry Nicholas III, who co-founded the company in 1991 and remained chief executive until 2003, is alleged to have hired prostitutes, spiked the drinks of executives with ecstasy, maintained a number of residences where he doled out "refreshments" such as cocaine and crystal meth as well as using "threats of violence and death, and payments of money to attempt to conceal his unlawful conduct".

There are also the small matters of falsifying corporate records and improperly backdating stock options, causing Broadcom to write down $2.2 billion in profits last year, although those charges seem positively old-fashioned compared to the surreal allegations against a chief executive.

Nicholas, who has been attending a $66,000-a-month Malibu drug rehabilitation centre since April, was said to have smoked so much marijuana on one private flight to Las Vegas that it caused "smoke and fumes to enter the cockpit", thereby requiring the pilot to put on an oxygen mask.

Court documents also say that he used houses in California, a condominium in Las Vegas and a commercial office space christened the "warehouse" as venues for drug-taking and supplying, with prostitutes being hired for both himself and representatives and customers of Broadcom. His dealers were allegedly asked to supply him with invoices for his purchases, with code words like "refreshments" being used.

Far from discreet, Nicholas is said to have once instructed an employee in the company's California headquarters to provide cash to a courier "in exchange for an envelope containing controlled substances". Prosecutors also allege that an employee with knowledge of his "unlawful narcotics activity" received $1 million in a settlement in 2002.

It's not the first time that Nicholas has faced such charges. Last year, a construction crew took a civil action against him on the grounds that he failed to pay them for a "secret and convenient" underground cave where he planned to indulge his "manic obsession with prostitutes".

Judge Arthur Nakazato set bail at $3.3 million and ordered the disabling of Nicholas's two planes. "If you flee, I will detain you and I will order an arrest warrant and I'll have the marshals and the FBI going on a hunt for you," he said.