Nvidia taps veteran prosecutor Joon Kim and Wachtell, Lipton for probe into Jensen Huang

What Nvidia is investigating

On Tuesday, Nvidia said it had brought on Joon Kim and Wachtell, Lipton to "conduct a thorough and independent investigation" regarding claims that its then-CEO, Jensen Huang, was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation tied to an affair with Alice Huang, whom U.S. intelligence suspects is a spy for China. Following a New York Times story describing a separate extramarital relationship with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell, who is directly under his supervision, Huang stepped down as CEO on Thursday morning.

Asked whether the investigation's scope would shift in light of the new claim, Nvidia offered no immediate response. A Wachtell, Lipton spokeswoman said neither the firm nor Kim would provide comment. Several of Kim's friends and ex-colleagues described Nvidia's selection as savvy. "I think he's the ideal person for this role," said Edward Kim, a defense attorney based in New York who worked with Joon Kim in the SDNY.

Kim's track record and SDNY leadership

Joon Kim, whose father served as a South Korean diplomat, was born in Los Angeles, went to Phillips Exeter Academy and Stanford University, and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School. After law school, he served as a clerk to a federal judge in Manhattan, then moved to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in the late 1990s. He later worked seven years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, with a four-year stint in the Organized Crime and Terrorism Unit.

The SDNY, based in Manhattan, handles many of the nation's highest profile criminal matters, covering high-stakes matters such as large-scale financial offenses, public corruption, and organized-crime cases. During his first stint, the office has said he investigated and prosecuted "racketeering, murder, money laundering, securities fraud, firearms and narcotics offenses, tax evasion, and terrorism." His trial wins included the conviction of Peter Gotti, then head of the Gambino family, for conspiring to kill Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, while cases against John Gotti Jr. ended in hung juries. "He could be a very tenacious courtroom advocate," said Chris Conniff, a lawyer in New York who worked with Kim and counts him among his closest friends. "He's incredibly smart," Conniff said. "I think he's known by everyone in the business as just an outstanding investigator, leaves no stone unturned."

After becoming a partner at Cleary in 2006, he rejoined the SDNY in 2013 as deputy U.S. attorney, and, following President Donald Trump's March 2017 dismissal of Preet Bharara, he took the helm as U.S. attorney spanning 2017 through 2018. In April 2018, Kim departed the SDNY, went back to Cleary for a third time, and more recently moved to Wachtell, Lipton's litigation group.

High profile probes, and the backlash

In March 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James selected Kim and Anne Clark of Vladeck, Raskin & Clark to investigate then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations. "These are serious allegations that demand a rigorous and impartial investigation," Kim said at the time. "We will act judiciously and follow the facts wherever they lead." In August 2021, Kim and Clark delivered a 165-page report concluding that Cuomo engaged in sexual harassment of at least 11 women, and that he retaliated against a former employee who publicly complained.

Investigators spoke with 179 witnesses and examined tens of thousands of documents. Cuomo rejected portions of the claims and argued that other parts were mischaracterized or misinterpreted. One week after the report's release, he said he would step down.

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Two years later, the FDIC retained Kim to conduct an independent review focused on sexual harassment and other interpersonal misconduct within the agency. His team ran 167 interviews with current and former employees, plus hundreds more with individuals who contacted a dedicated hotline. An April 2024 report concluded that "for far too many employees and for far too long, the FDIC has failed to provide a workplace safe from sexual harassment, discrimination, and other interpersonal misconduct."

Kim's new firm has recent investigative chops of its own.

The Cuomo fallout has lingered. A little over five years after Cuomo left office, his spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, called Kim a "hired hack," said he "hid evidence" that cleared Cuomo, and said he took "outright lies" from a number of witnesses at face value. The friction predates the harassment probe.

During their time at the SDNY, Kim and Bharara supervised the probe that resulted in the corruption trial of Joseph Percoco, a close aide to Cuomo. Percoco was sentenced to six years after a 2018 conviction for honest-services wire fraud, a verdict the Supreme Court unanimously overturned in 2023 on the ground that the judge's guidance to the jury was overly vague. Azzopardi said Kim and Bharara pursued Percoco "for their own personal glory" and "to generate headlines for themselves." Asked about Azzopardi's accusation, Bharara replied by email with just two words: "Andrew who?," referring to Cuomo.

Why this matters for your portfolio

Kim's approach tends to be exhaustive - document heavy and interview dense. That was clear in the Cuomo probe's 165 pages and 179 interviews, and again in the FDIC review built on 167 interviews plus hundreds of hotline contacts. Expect a similarly methodical process here, with potential implications for Nvidia's governance and leadership optics.

What to watch: whether Nvidia broadens the mandate to address the Kimberly Powell allegation, any public readout from Wachtell, and any board or policy changes that follow. The bottom line: an outside investigation with a prosecutor's rigor can shape headline risk and board decisions, which feed directly into how investors handicap Nvidia's leadership stability and compliance posture.

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