SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Federal officials unsealed one indictment Thursday alleging co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III of chip maker Broadcom Corp. spiked the drinks of technology executives and customer representatives with ecstasy and maintained a warehouse for ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine.
A second indictment unsealed Thursday accuses him of conspiracy, securities fraud and other violations relating to stock options backdating while he was CEO.
That indictment also names Broadcom's former chief financial officer, William J. Ruehle, on conspiracy and securities fraud charges but no drug violations.
Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said Nicholas was in custody after turning himself in to FBI agents in Santa Ana.
Nicholas and Ruehle were scheduled to make their first court appearance later Thursday. Nicholas spokesman Mark Saylor referred calls to another spokesman, who said lawyers for Nicholas had no comment.
The drug indictment, which charges Nicholas with conspiracy to distribute and acquire controlled substances, provides few details.
Last month, attorney Bill Hake said Nicholas had entered an alcohol rehabilitation program. Nicholas faces a total of 21 counts.
Ruehle faces 21 counts on the stock options indictment, including false certification of financial reports, filing false statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and wire fraud.
Last month, securities regulators charged Ruehle, Nicholas, co-founder Henry Samueli and general counsel David Dull in a civil suit with falsifying the company's reported income, leading to what is believed to be the largest-ever accounting restatement because of backdating stock options.
Nicholas, 48, served as CEO and president from Broadcom's inception until he resigned in 2003. Ruehle, 65, joined the company in 1997 as vice president and chief financial officer and retired in 2006.
Samueli stepped down as chairman of the company's board of directors and planned to take a leave of absence as chief technology officer, according to a May statement from the Irvine-based company.
The SEC said that as a result of the scheme to backdate options without properly accounting for the move, Broadcom had to restate its financial results in January 2007 and report more than $2 billion in compensation expenses it hadn't accounted for.
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