The Scene
Joon Kim has taken down mobsters, pursued a congressman, and investigated sexual harassment claims that toppled a New York governor. His latest assignment will decide the fate of a $4 trillion dollar company the global economy depends on.
The former acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York was tapped to investigate whether Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a Chinese espionage campaign, following Huang’s bombshell admission Sunday that the chief executive had an extramarital affair with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy.
Kim, a 55-year-old prosecutor who joined Wachtell Lipton last month, will lead an internal probe overseen by a committee of independent directors, into whether Nvidia’s Huang compromised trade secrets or more pressingly, the US’ national security interests. The company has said it has confidence in its CEO and has “no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised.” A spokesperson for Wachtell declined to comment on the firm’s and Kim’s behalf.
Shares in Nvidia have dropped 10% since Huang’s admission, knocking $500 billion off the company’s market value and stoking worries about the future of a company that underpins an AI financing buildout that has ensnared most of the global financial system.
