How far has Dr. Henry T. Nicholas III, the billionaire co-founder of Broadcom Corp., fallen?

Federal prosecutors argued that Nicholas should be locked up while he awaits trial on drug and options backdating charges, calling him a "danger to the community."

The prosecutors contend that Nicholas, knowing the federal criminal investigation was ongoing, hit one of his close associates in the face last June because he believed that person was wearing a wire, threatening to "chase him to the end of the earth" if he "screwed" him.

In October, Nicholas signed a declaration to customs regarding the amount of cash on board his private jet as he was returning from a trip to Mexico. The next month, Nicholas fled the scene of an automobile accident while driving his Lamborghini, and his bodyguard lied to police and took the blame.

Court papers show that prosecutors have been fighting for months with Nicolas' lawyers, refusing any agreement on bail even after Nicholas checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic and the pilots for his private-jet service signed declarations that they would not fly him anywhere without first checking with the government.

Nicholas was not even sure that prosecutors would allow him to "surrender" voluntarily, as he did, rather than be arrested and make a "perp walk" for the cameras, until just days before the indictment.

So unsure was Brendan V. Sullivan, the power litigator from Williams & Connolly tapped as lead defense counsel for Nicholas in early May, that he took an unusual step: On May 27, he informed the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles that he and his client would be present at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana every Wednesday between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Nicholas and Sullivan did just that on May 28: Sullivan flew in from his law office in Washington, and Nicholas checked out of rehab for the day.

If true, the allegations in the prosecutors' request for detention suggest that Brendan Sullivan has one volatile client on his hands.

The motion describes a trip that Nicholas made on one of his private jets to Oakland with "Witness A," a person described as "his longtime friend, personal attorney, and employee." Nicholas accused Witness A of working for the government. After Nicholas hit him and threatened him, Witness A "fell to the ground and walked away." After the plane landed, Witness A stopped working for Nicholas.

Witness A is not identified by name. But this person's description bears close similarity to Craig S. Gunther, a California lawyer who began working for Nicholas in 2001, setting up his family office and taking charge of his personal finances. Last August, Gunther was charged with "structuring"—the crime of withdrawing money in small amounts from financial institutions to evade federal reporting requirements.

The F.B.I. affidavit filed to support the criminal complaint against Gunther refers to him as a "longtime friend of Executive A" and a "senior executive at Broadcom Corp." At the time he was charged, the Associated Press reported that Gunther left Nicholas' family office, called NS Holdings, last June.

Gunther's lawyer declined to comment on whether he is the assaulted Witness A, nor would prosecutors confirm whether Gunther is that person.

The request for detention also provides another glimpse into Nicholas' lifestyle, described as "sybaritic" by the Wall Street Journal in a page-one profile last year.

Last August, Nicholas' lawyers from Munger Tolles & Olson fired off a letter to the legal department of Google, demanding that a YouTube video of Nicholas, which they claimed was taken "surreptitiously" by hidden cameras in his bedroom. Prosecutors contend that the video shows that the "defendant continued to engage in illegal drug activities while the federal investigation was ongoing." In their brief, prosecutors stated they would "lodge" the YouTube videos of his "drug use" at the request of the defense or the government.

But the YouTube video has already been introduced into evidence in a pending lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court by Kenji Kato, a former employee of Nicholas who had a falling out with him in 2006, and has accused him of drug use, among other things. Kato, who began working for Nicholas in 1999, claims his job responsibilities demanded "lying" and expanded to include "managing" Nicholas' "women for him." The video is on file as an exhibit in a pending motion for fees by Kato's lawyer, Joseph M. Kar of Sherman Oaks, California. The Orange County Register has posted excerpts from the YouTube videos, and you can watch them if you click here.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Nakazato, however, denied prosecutors' request and ordered Nicholas to post a $3.4 million bond from real estate assets of friends and family, including his mother's $2.1 million home in Malibu.

For now, Nicholas is finishing up rehab at Cliffside Malibu, where he transferred from Betty Ford in May. The defense team provided a sample Cliffside treatment schedule in their papers, arguing that he be released on bond: On Wednesday, Nicholas might have begun his day at 7 a.m. with a community meeting, had "Life Coaching with Sherry" at 10, moved on to "Boundary Power with Robyn at 1 p.m., then on to yoga and "Recovery Group with Denny."

Once Nicholas finishes rehab, he will be in home confinement at the two-story Tuscan-style villa in Laguna Hills, originally built for the owners of St. John, the luxury brand for whom Angelina Jolie is a signature model. "It's nice to have a house like this, but it really isn't happiness," Nicholas told the Orange County Register in an August 2007 profile.

Not happiness, indeed. His "home detention" to the Newport Coast villa includes "active electronic monitoring." The judge also ordered this requirement: "Defendant shall come in for drug testing on random basis at courthouse or other location deemed appropriate." He will be back in court for an arraignment hearing on June 16.

Nicholas faces as much as 20 years in prison if convicted of the drug charges. The backdating charges carry a sentence of 340 years.