Runners-up: Broadcom’s former CEO Henry T. Nicholas, Bayou Management’s Samuel Israel III, U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Somma and celebrity plastic surgeon Jan Adams.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Former Broadcom co-founder and CEO Henry T. Nicholas, 48, charged with orchestrating the backdating of stock-option awards and with buying and distributing cocaine, ecstasy and other controlled substances. Employees reportedly regarded Nicholas as a messianic leader who routinely convened 2 a.m. staff meetings during his company’s heyday, no doubt driven by alcohol and other-drug fueled mania. The fact that Nicholas was released only after his mother posted $2 million in home equity towards a $3.4 million bond suggests he has hit the burn-out stage financially. The details of his life while head of Broadcom, if they come to light, will prove to be lurid if initial reports pan out. Recall from “Drunks, Drugs & Debits” the point that addicts are like icebergs”we are often privy to just a fraction of what is really going on. Now consider the construction of a series of tunnels and underground rooms at an equestrian estate in Laguna Hills, California, designed to allow Nicholas to indulge in what the indictment terms his “manic obsession with prostitutes.”Imagine how interesting the trial will be.
Former chief executive of the now-defunct hedge-fund Bayou Management, LLC, Samuel Israel lll, who is now the subject of a manhunt. Israel was supposed to begin serving a 20-year prison term after pleading guilty to conspiracy, investment-advisor fraud and mail-fraud charges. Instead, he left his car near the 150-foot high Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River in New York with the words, “suicide is painless”written in the dust on the hood. Since 1980, more than 40 people jumping from the bridge have died, with almost all of the bodies found quickly. Israel first qualified in the “under watch”section of the September 2005 the www.ThorburnAddictionReport.com, when he was under suspicion of having bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars while shutting his doors due to “family troubles [and] an impending divorce.”He was upgraded to “runners-up”in the November 2005 edition when reports of a DUI and crack cocaine arrest in 1996 surfaced. Unfortunately, no such reports have been made public regarding Atlanta-based hedge fund manager Kirk Wright, whose firm, International Management Associates, collapsed in 2006. Since Wright was convicted of swindling millions of dollars from clients ranging from National Football League players to his mother, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he qualifies for the “runners-up”section. Facing up to 710 years in prison, however, he is unlikely to be mentioned again. He committed suicide, hanging himself in his jail cell.
Boston-based U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Somma, 63, arrested for DUI while wearing a black cocktail dress, fishnet stockings and high heels, announcing his resignation from the bench”a second time, apparently after a groundswell of support. Perhaps his backers are easily amused by such antics, but those of us looking for people with good judgment in a position to judge others might prefer he stick to cross-dressing. Oh, and Judge Somma, perhaps you could do some good by enlightening your supporters about your disease”and explain they should never, ever trust your judgment or that of any other alcoholic.
Los Angeles celebrity plastic surgeon Jan Adams, who made headlines when rapper Kanye West’s mother Donde West, 58, died after he performed multiple surgeries on her, arrested for DUI”again. Before the latest incident, the Medical Board of California was already considering yanking his license to practice medicine. Hey, Medical Board”if you would simply require that all prospective patients be given a history of Adams’ DUI (and any other) arrests, along with a copy of Drunks, Drugs & Debits, you won’t have to pull the plug on him. You’ll find the full write-up in the Top Story of the December 2007 edition of the www.ThorburnAddictionReport.com.