Henry T. Nicholas III, the billionaire funder of two 2008 tough-on-crime ballot measures, pleaded not guilty in court today to an array of drug and securities fraud charges.
Nicholas, the co-founder of Broadcom, has donated nearly $5.9 million to two ballot measures that have been confirmed for the November 2008 ballot. Earlier this month, he was indicted on 25 counts of allegations by federal prosecutors that included drug and prostitution use, securities fraud, bribery and death threats.
The Associated Press has the brief story of his not guilty plea. The AP reports Nicholas faces a maximum combined sentence of 20 years for the drug charges and up to 340 years in prison for the stock backdating counts.
The Bee reported the details of Nicholas' support of the two ballot measures last week. He is the largest donor to both the Marsy's Law measure (named after his sister) and the Safe Neighborhoods Act (sponsored by Sen. George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner).
Both campaigns said they would not be returning Nicholas' donations, though the Marsy's Law campaign said it would not spend any of his unspent contributions.
Nicholas is one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's largest contributors, giving the governor's political committees a total of $1.65 million. A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman said of returning the donations, "We will allow (the legal process) to run its course and make a decision based on the outcome."
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