Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III is being sued by a building firm which claimed that he ordered them to build a subterranean lair in which he could indulge an alleged passion for drugs and prostitutes.

The crew claimed in a court filing that Nicholas failed to pay them for a 2,000 square-foot subterranean addition to his California mansion, which was built without planning permission.

The suit alleges that Nicholas tried to get a secret chamber built into the underground complex which he could use for his "manic obsession with prostitutes " and "addiction to cocaine and ecstasy", according to the Los Angeles Times.

The building firm alleges that Nicholas used "manipulation, lies, intimidation and even death threats" to pressure "nearly every contractor and vendor" on the project to perform extra work without pay "at warp speed".

The filing claims that the billionaire then had a "private brothel" built in a nearby warehouse where he entertained prostitutes until his wife caught him.

Steven A. Silverstein, Nicholas's attorney, said that "all of the allegations are denied".

Broadcom is one of America's largest broadband equipment suppliers which Nicholas co-founded and took public in 1998. Forbes magazine estimated his worth in 2003 at $1.1bn.