Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Pleas delayed for billionaire, friend in Las Vegas drug case

Henry Nicholas III and Ashley Fargo

Mark J. Terrill / AP

This March 6, 2019, file photo shows Henry Nicholas III, left, and Ashley Fargo during the second half of an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles.

Pleas were postponed Friday for California tech billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III and a friend in a plea deal sparing them prison time in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room drug case.

Defense attorney David Chesnoff says a court scheduling snag prompted the delay for Nicholas and co-defendant Ashley Fargo. Both live in the Newport Beach, California, area.

Chesnoff says a new date will be set.

He told a Las Vegas judge last week the two will enter Alford pleas to two felony drug possession charges. That'll acknowledge evidence against them, but not admit guilt.

Prosecutors dropped drug trafficking charges.

Nicholas and Fargo are promising a $1 million donation to a Las Vegas-area drug program.

Police reported finding heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and several psychedelic substances in hard-sided travel cases in their room at the Encore resort in August 2018.

Nicholas and Fargo denied ownership of the cases.