Joon Kim, the ex-prosecutor who probed Cuomo, leads Nvidia's Huang inquiry
Nvidia retained former federal prosecutor Joon Kim and Wachtell, Lipton to run an independent investigation into whether Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort.
A prosecutor, not a consultant
Nvidia has retained former federal prosecutor Joon Kim and his firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz, to run an independent investigation into allegations that former chief executive Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, the company said on Tuesday. Kim, 55, will lead the inquiry, which centers on Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman U.S. intelligence suspects of spying for China.
The board announced the investigation on Sunday, and a committee of independent directors will oversee it alongside Wachtell. Nvidia said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets had been compromised, but pledged to examine all available information. Huang resigned on Thursday after a New York Times report that he had also had an affair with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell.
A record built on big investigations
Kim spent seven years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, including four years in the Organized Crime and Terrorism Unit, and later served as U.S. attorney from 2017 to 2018. In March 2021, he was tapped by New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate then-Governor Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations.
Kim and co-investigator Anne Clark interviewed 179 witnesses, reviewed tens of thousands of documents and produced a 165-page report that concluded Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women. Cuomo resigned a week after the report was released. Two years later, Kim was retained by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to review misconduct allegations at the agency, conducting 167 interviews; an April 2024 report found the agency had failed to provide a workplace safe from harassment. This year, Wachtell investigated the Los Angeles Clippers for the NBA, a probe that ended with sanctions on the team and owner Steve Ballmer over salary-cap rules.
- Kim's age55
- Cuomo inquiry witnesses179
- Cuomo report165 pages
- FDIC review interviews167
Why the board picked him
Colleagues describe Kim as a thorough investigator. "I think he's the ideal person for this role," said Edward Kim, a New York white-collar defense lawyer who worked with Joon Kim in the Southern District and is not related to him. Chris Conniff, another former colleague, said: "I don't think Joon would take an engagement in which he could not provide a fulsome report of what he uncovered during this investigation."
Kim himself said in March 2021: "These are serious allegations that demand a rigorous and impartial investigation." A spokesman for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, called Kim a "hired hack" and said the Nvidia board's only aim was a predetermined outcome, claims disputed by Conniff and by former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara. Wachtell declined to comment for this article.
What the investigation must answer
The inquiry must establish whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort and whether any Nvidia information or technology was compromised. The reported second affair with Powell, a vice president who reports directly to the former chief executive, could be added to the issues Kim examines, CNBC reported. Nvidia did not immediately respond when asked whether the scope of the investigation would change, and Wachtell declined to comment.
Kim joined Wachtell last month from a rival firm. The firm, founded in 1965, built its reputation advising boards in takeover fights, including the poison pill defense devised by founding partner Martin Lipton in the 1980s. Nvidia has not given a timetable for the investigation or said whether its findings will be made public.
