Nvidia has tapped a high-powered Wall Street lawyer who investigated sexual harassment allegations against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to probe CEO Jensen Huang’s admitted affair with an alleged Chinese spy, the AI giant announced Tuesday.
Joon Kim, a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and former acting US attorney in Manhattan, was retained along with his firm to conduct an independent investigation into whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
The appointment puts the veteran prosecutor in the middle of a scandal that has raised questions about the independence of Nvidia’s board, which has long been viewed as deferential to the billionaire executive who co-founded the company.
Kim was one of two attorneys appointed by New York Attorney General Letitia James in 2021 to investigate sexual harassment allegations and other misconduct claims against Cuomo.
Working alongside employment lawyer Anne Clark, Kim helped lead the inquiry that concluded Cuomo had sexually harassed multiple women. The former governor denied the allegations but resigned over the scandal.
Kim served as acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York from March 2017 to January 2018. Kim briefly took over the seat from Preet Bharara, for whom he had served as deputy, President Trump fired Bharara when the prosecutor refused to resign.
Kim’s latest assignment comes as Nvidia faces mounting scrutiny over Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed whom US intelligence officials reportedly identified as an asset of China’s Ministry of State Security.
Beijing has denied the espionage allegations.
Nvidia announced Sunday that a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, would investigate reports that its 63-year-old chief executive had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
The announcement came the same day Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife of more than 40 years.
The board said it had “no reason to believe” that either national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, but pledged to examine all available information.
The investigation presents a significant test for Nvidia’s directors, whose longstanding loyalty to Huang has raised concerns among corporate governance experts about their willingness to challenge the powerful CEO, the New York Times noted.
Nvidia’s 10 directors have served a combined 161 years on the board, according to the Times, which reported that several members have longstanding business ties to Huang.
Among them are early investors Mark Stevens and Tench Coxe, who joined the board in 1993, the year Huang co-founded the company.
Stevens’ Nvidia stake was valued at $6.22 billion when he last sold shares in September, while Coxe’s holdings were worth $5.62 billion when he last gave away shares in November, according to the Gray Lady.
Three former employees told the newspaper that Huang viewed the board largely as a formality, relying little on its members to shape Nvidia’s strategy or operations.
Huang also reportedly resisted internal discussions about succession planning, leaving Nvidia without an obvious replacement if its longtime CEO were forced to step aside.
“He didn’t like the idea,” Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas, a former Nvidia executive, said in a 2024 interview cited by The Times. “He felt it would create competition among executives and be divisive.”
Huang’s management structure further complicates matters. The billionaire has more than 60 executives reporting directly to him, according to the newspaper.
Nvidia has said Huang will remain CEO during the investigation and would not participate in selecting outside counsel.
Wachtell also conducted a high-profile NBA investigation that found the Los Angeles Clippers violated salary-cap rules by arranging lucrative endorsement deals for star Kawhi Leonard through companies doing business with the team.
The findings prompted the league in September to fine the Clippers $30 million, strip them of five first-round draft picks and suspend billionaire owner Steve Ballmer for a year. The team disputed the findings.
The law firm was also rocked by its own workplace romance scandal this summer when partner Nathaniel Cullerton, 45, was caught kissing junior associate Kelsey Borenzweig, 29, on a Central Park bench in a viral TikTok video.
Cullerton was placed on leave while Wachtell investigated the relationship.
The firm confirmed to The Post in September that the two sides had mutually agreed to part ways after the scandal also derailed his planned move to rival Gibson Dunn.