Nvidia picks ex-federal prosecutor Jun Kim to lead probe into CEO Jensen Huang

Nvidia has found the person who will lead its independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang: a former federal prosecutor with a long record of high-profile cases.

According to The New York Times, the chipmaker has appointed the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and one of its partners, Jun Kim, 55 (Korean name Kim Jun-hyeon), to run the probe.

What happened?

On 8 November, Nvidia's board said it had opened an independent investigation. The reason: Huang acknowledged an affair with a woman whom US intelligence authorities have identified as a Chinese spy.

The board said a committee of independent directors will oversee the work, advised by outside independent counsel. Huang has promised to cooperate fully, it added.

Who is Jun Kim?

Kim was born in the US to Korean immigrant parents. He studied at Stanford and Harvard Law School, then joined the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (the federal prosecutors' office covering Manhattan) in 2000.

From March 2017 to January 2018, he served as its acting head. During that time he oversaw the investigation into the Halloween 2017 truck attack in Manhattan, carried out by an Islamic State follower.

In 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James appointed him to lead the independent investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against then-Governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo resigned after the findings were released.

His firm, based in New York, is known for mergers and acquisitions, high-stakes litigation and crisis management.

What's next?

No timeline for the investigation has been announced. For now, the board has set out who is in charge and how the work will be overseen.

If you missed our earlier explainer, we looked at honey traps, the old espionage tactic at the centre of this debate, and why intelligence services still use it.