Nvidia hires ex-prosecutor Joon Kim to probe Jensen Huang affair

Nvidia investors are absorbing a sharp market correction as the company faces scrutiny over Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair with an executive suspected by the United States government of spying for Beijing. Nvidia’s independent directors announced on Tuesday they had hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim to lead an independent probe.

The investigation follows disclosures over the weekend that Jensen Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based customer Megaspeed. US intelligence agencies concluded she was a spy for China, while Beijing rejected the claims as intended to smear and malign the country. Jensen Huang had previously said there was nothing inappropriate about the relationship.

Board Action and Legal Strategy

The independent board members of Nvidia tapped Joon H. Kim, a former acting US attorney of the Southern District of New York, to conduct what the board described in a Tuesday statement as a thorough and independent investigation. Before Wachtell Lipton was retained, people familiar with the inquiry told the Financial Times it would probably be led by Stephen Neal, the lead independent director and senior counsel at Cooley. Cooley set up Nvidia in 1993 and has been its main outside counsel since, CNBC reported, citing the firm. Neal did not respond to CNBC.

Wachtell is one of the largest law firms in the US, with notable tech clients including OpenAI and Salesforce. The investigation is expected to be treated as urgent, according to sources familiar with the sentiment inside Nvidia. It remains unclear, however, if Wachtell will be able to interview Alice Huang, who is also known as Huang Le, and is not related to Jensen Huang. A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment on Tuesday when asked if Jensen Huang had retained any additional of his own legal representation amid the company investigation and a separate probe launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Market Impact and Intelligence Warnings

Shares in Nvidia fell to a near-yearly low on Tuesday, wiping more than $500bn (£375bn) off Nvidia's stock market value since Friday. The recent developments caused shares to sell-off by more than 10% since trading opened on Monday morning, erasing almost $500 billion from the $4 trillion company in just two days. After hitting its last record high on October 6, shares in the chip designer have plunged by 31%, erasing more than $1.7 trillion in market value even as broader tech stocks have recovered since last week's sell-off.

Adding downward pressure on the stock was reporting from The New York Times that Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top officials in Washington in spring this year, warning that the Nvidia boss was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy. The Times reported that President Donald Trump was told aboard Air Force One in May en route to China that the US had obtained sensitive intelligence showing Jensen Huang was in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy. NBC News has not confirmed the report and reached out to the State Department for comment.

Political Reactions and Governance Questions

President Donald Trump said Monday that he had spoken to Jensen Huang and that the Nvidia boss told him I had no idea she was a spy. Trump added, I really believe him. When asked if he had been briefed about Huang before the May trip, Trump claimed, I didn’t hear about it then.

The controversy places renewed focus on Nvidia’s corporate governance structure. The board has a combined 161 years of service, with average director tenure of almost 15 years, nearly twice the S&P 500 norm, according to Semafor. No director is a current or former S&P 500 chief executive, and none has national security experience. Nvidia has a lead independent director instead of a board chair, a design Jensen Huang told Bloomberg’s Emily Chang was intended so the chief executive could be held accountable. When announcing the probe on Sunday, Nvidia's board said it had no reason to believe the company's secrets or national security were compromised.

Family ties within the firm have also drawn attention. Three relatives work at Nvidia: his son Spencer is a director of product management in robotics, his daughter Madison is a senior director of product marketing, and his son-in-law Nico Caprez works on business development, with Fortune giving his title as vice president of global AI infrastructure growth. In the 2026 financial year, Nvidia paid Madison about $1.23m and Spencer about $1.32m, according to the proxy. Neither is an executive officer, shares a household with Jensen Huang or reports directly to him, and their pay was set under normal company practices without Huang’s involvement. Asked last month whether Madison was in line to succeed him, Huang said he did not wish the job on her. Madison cancelled a trip to Seoul on Monday, citing a family matter, according to Bloomberg. In a memo to staff, Jensen Huang wrote, My family bears no responsibility for my choices. I do. Please give them privacy.

Nvidia reports its third-quarter results on November 17. A day later, House committee chairs expect Jensen Huang at a closed-door briefing on Megaspeed.

Beijing has rejected claims that Jensen Huang has been targeted, with its foreign ministry stating that the allegations were intended to smear and malign China.