Broadcom Billionaire Arrested After Hotel Room Find

Cops say case contained heroin, cocaine, meth
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 10, 2018 2:39 AM CDT
Updated Aug 10, 2018 6:36 AM CDT
Broadcom Billionaire Accused of Trafficking Hard Drugs
This Tuesday booking photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Ashley Fargo, who's facing drug counts in Las Vegas.   (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

With an estimated fortune of $3.1 billion, Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas III can afford a good lawyer—and he's going to need one. The 59-year-old billionaire was arrested in Las Vegas this week along with companion Ashley Fargo on suspicion of trafficking drugs including heroin, cocaine, MDMA, and methamphetamine, the Los Angeles Times reports. Police say they were called to the Encore hotel-casino Tuesday night after security reported finding the drugs in Nicholas' room.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that Nicholas called security at the hotel when he couldn't get into the room—and after entering, they found Fargo, the ex-wife of an heir to the Wells Fargo fortune, "unresponsive with a semi-deflated balloon in her mouth," apparently after using nitrous oxide. The drugs were allegedly found in a case in the room, which hotel rules required security to inspect because it looked like one used for weapons. Nicholas has hired David Chesnoff, one of Las Vegas' best-known defense lawyers, who says his client was released on his own recognizance. Nicholas, who stepped down from Broadcom in 2003, was charged with numerous drug and fraud offenses in 2008, but they were later dismissed by a federal judge. (More Broadcom stories.)

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