(Nov 11) : Nvidia Corp.’s independent board members tapped a former top federal prosecutor to help probe Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.
The chipmaker’s board directors retained Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partner Joon H. Kim “to conduct a thorough and independent investigation,” according to a brief statement Nvidia issued Tuesday. Kim previously served as acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Nvidia’s board announced the probe on Sunday, saying it was assembling a committee of independent directors to explore reports of Huang being targeted for foreign intelligence. The move coincided with an explosive admission by the CEO that he’d had an affair with a woman the US government reportedly suspects of spying for Chinese intelligence.
The matter has sent shares of Nvidia, once the world’s most valuable company, plummeting on speculation that Huang will have to step down or that the company will face greater regulatory or legislative scrutiny. It’s also engulfed the White House, as Huang developed a close relationship with President Donald Trump, who personally invested in Nvidia and signed off on the sale of its chips to Chinese entities
Nvidia shares initially fell further Tuesday afternoon following the company’s announcement that it was retaining Kim but recovered somewhat by end of the trading day. Wachtell is one of New York’s most elite law firms, and Kim has a strong reputation as a dogged investigator.
Michael McGovern, a former federal prosecutor now at Ropes & Gray, called Kim a “phenomenal choice,” noting that New York Attorney General Letitia James tapped him to probe the sexual harassment claims that led to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation.
“His conclusions are unimpeachable and supported by the evidence,” McGovern said of Kim. “He leaves no stone unturned.”
Huang had previously said there was nothing inappropriate about his relationship with the woman, who worked for a Singapore-based customer. Nvidia has also said it has no reason to believe either US national security or corporate secrets were compromised.
One of New York’s most prominent corporate law firms, Wachtell is perhaps best known for its public-company mergers and acquisitions work. It recently served as lead counsel for Warner Brothers Discovery Inc. in its US$111 billion acquisition by the company now known as Skydance Corp. Wachtell’s litigation group has also handled many high-profile disputes, including representing the former Twitter Inc. in its 2022 suit demanding that Elon Musk honor his offer to buy the social-media site for US$44 million.
In Kim, Nvidia’s board has chosen a veteran federal prosecutor who served as the top deputy to former Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. Kim was part of Bharara’s team in his insider-trading battle with the former SAC Capital, which pleaded guilty in 2013 and agreed to pay a US$1.8 billion penalty. Earlier in his career, Kim was part of a series of prosecutions of relatives of former mob boss John Gotti.
Kim took over as Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor on an acting basis after Trump fired Bharara shortly after the start of his first term. Kim left that office in January 2018 and became a partner at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. He and James led the Cuomo probe in 2021, while he was at Cleary. Their report found that Cuomo sexually harassed current and former state employees and presided over a “toxic” and “emotionally abusive” executive chamber. Cuomo stepped down shortly after.
Kim only recently joined Wachtell from Cleary. He came in months after Wachtell’s co-chair and veteran litigator William Savitt departed to another firm, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, along with five other partners.
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