Behind every billionaire there is a story!

Ex-Broadcom CEO wrote he was “not fully functioning” because of drugs

As his once high-flying computer chip company foundered in spring of 2002 and a drug binge left him depressed, Henry T. Nicholas III begged for understanding in an 1,800-word e-mail to his estranged wife.

The co-founder of Broadcom Corp., who has pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges of drug distribution and securities fraud, wrote that he wanted out of the tech company that had made him a billionaire.

Although he has repeatedly denied drug use, his e-mail depicts a highly successful man whose forays into debauchery have cost him his family – and threatened the company he built.

“I deserve everything that is happening to me. I just wish I didn’t have other people who depend upon me and look to me to be their leader,” Nicholas wrote in the e-mail, which has been turned over to federal authorities but has never been published.

In the message, obtained by The Orange County Register from a former Broadcom employee with access to the former CEO’s e-mail, Nicholas details his drug use and frets about his stewardship of the company.

“The worst part is seeing the company falling apart because I am not fully functioning,” he writes. “However, I don’t care about Broadcom anymore, I just feel like a liar to the people I am recruiting into new positions.”

read the rest published by OC Register here:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nicholas-mail-broadcom-2229277-company-smith