The Caligula of Orange County?

I am so excited about the latest developments in this story. I've wanted to blog about this guy forever as the Orange County billionaire co-founder of Broadcom, Henry T. Nicholas, gave me one of my favorite news stories of 2007. You'll see why in a moment.

The timing is all messed up, but part of me sees Henry T. Nicholas as the retroactive inspiration for Patrick Bateman. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before a room full of bodies appears in Nicholas's underground lair. Why? Okay, first of all because it was found out last year that Nicholas really does have an underground lair. Of course, that would only put him on the level of a James Bond villain as far as most people are concerned. But, then there are all the allegations of hookers and drugs. You see, that secret bunker of his wasn't for building a laser to carve his face in the moon. It was built with secret nooks and crannies for him to secretly take prostitutes to so he could apparently snort some blow off their asses. Or something.

According to Wired | Threat Level, the story got even juicier today. In an indictment filed Thursday (and I'm paraphrasing Wired blooger Ryan Singel's post here) it's been alleged he drugged two fellow executives, racked up a $30,000 bill for ecstasy for a party, ordered employees to maintain a stockpile of drugs including coke and meth at his warehouse. At another point he allegedly bought 225 tabs of ecstasy. The indictment continues that he and several others smoked enough pot on a flight that the pilot had to don an oxygen mask to avoid a high from hotboxing. Supposedly, he had an employee exchange an envelope with $5,000-to-$10,000 for drugs, and he also signed a settlement agreement with an employee, paying out $1 million for silence about illegal drug activities. Finally, Nicholas allegedly conspired with others to get prescription drugs illegally. No word on if he ever declared himself the new emperor of Rome during a fit of drug-fueled mania.

Truly, it's amazing human beings like this who almost make the violence of the French Revolution understandable.

Update: Today's New York Post has more.