Nvidia Corp.’s independent board members on Tuesday announced that former acting US Attorney Joon H Kim and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz will be leading a probe into Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.
The board members made the announcement in a short statement, days after the firm announced an internal probe into reports of Huang having been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
According to a Bloomberg report, Joon H Kim has served as the top deputy to former Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara in the past and took over as Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor before quitting office in 2018.
He is an ex-federal attorney of the Southern District of New York and has been tapped “to conduct a thorough and independent investigation,” the Nvida board members said.
The veteran federal prosecutor has been part of several prominent legal battles, including the insider-trading battle with the former SAC Capital, the hedge fund once run by billionaire Steven A Cohen which pleaded guilty in 2013 and agreed to pay a $1.8 billion penalty.
He was also part of prosecutions of relatives of former mob boss John Gotti, the Bloomberg report added.
Nvidia CEO’s relationship under scanner
The controversy linked to Jensen Huang erupted on November 7, when a Financial Times report claimed that the US government believed he had been in a relationship with a woman who was recruited to spy for China’s main intelligence agency.
The report identified the woman as Alice Huang, an executive for an Asian tech firm, Megaspeed International.
Days later, Huang admitted to having an affair in an email to Nvidia employees. “I was unfaithful to my wife,” Jensen Huang wrote. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.
He also said that he valued his coworkers at Nvidia and that they deserved better from him. “Leading Nvidia is the privilege of my life. My responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust. I have fallen short of that responsibility. I am fully committed to Nvidia and will work to earn back your confidence,” he wrote.