Broadcom Co-Founder's Bodyguard Jailed For Contempt

Stephen L. Otten was part of the first Navy SEAL platoon behind enemy lines in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, earning a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for "courage and expertise while conducting a flawless reconnaissance under the harshest conditions."

On Monday, Otten was sent behind bars for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating allegations of stock manipulation by Newport Beach billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III, the co-founder of Irvine computer chip maker Broadcom Corp.

Otten, 30, who had been both bodyguard and companion of Nicholas' three children, said he felt the same unswerving loyalty to them as he had sworn to his commando comrades. But a federal judge in Santa Ana ruled he had failed to fulfill a higher duty -- to obey a court order -- and sent him to the city jail on civil contempt charges to ponder the possibility that a felony criminal charge of contempt might follow.

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