Joon Kim leads Jensen Huang investigation
Independent investigator Joon H. Kim speaks during a news conference regarding a probe that found New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, in New York City, New York, August 3, 2021.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Joon Kim, the lawyer tapped by artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia to investigate its former CEO Jensen Huang, and the Big Law firm he works for have a long history of investigating high-profile cases.
Kim, in his career as a top federal prosecutor and as an attorney in private practice, has had in his sights mobster John “The Teflon Don” Gotti’s son, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other high-profile people and companies.
The law firm that Kim recently joined — Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — this year conducted an investigation for the NBA of the Los Angeles Clippers and its billionaire owner, Steve Ballmer, which ended with the basketball league imposing stiff sanctions on Ballmer and the Clippers for violating salary cap rules in connection with superstar Kawhi Leonard.
On Tuesday, Nvidia said it had retained Kim, 55, and Wachtell, Lipton to “conduct a thorough and independent investigation” of allegations that its then-CEO Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort involving his affair with a woman, Alice Huang. U.S. intelligence suspects her of being a spy for China.
Jensen Huang resigned as CEO on Thursday morning on the heels of a New York Times report that he had also had an extramarital affair with an Nvidia executive, Kimberly Powell, who reports to him.
That allegation could be added to the list of issues that Kim will be looking into as part of his probe.
A photo shows NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang with a woman confirmed by a Reuters source to be Alice Huang in Taipei, Taiwan released on June 7, 2024.
Reuters
Nvidia did not immediately respond when asked if the parameters of the investigation would be affected by the new claim. A spokeswoman for Wachtell, Lipton declined to comment for this article on behalf of the firm and Kim.
Friends and former colleagues of Kim said Nvidia has made a smart decision in retaining him for the job.
“I think he’s the ideal person for this role,” said Edward Kim, a New York white-collar defense lawyer who worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York with Joon Kim. The two men are not related.
“I think they’re going to get a serious, credible investigation. I believe Joon will follow the facts wherever they will lead,” Edward Kim said.
Joon Kim’s background
The son of a South Korean diplomat, Joon Kim was born in Los Angeles. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and later Stanford University.
After graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School, he clerked for a federal judge in Manhattan and then worked as an associate at the major law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton starting in the late 1990s. After that, he spent seven years in the SDNY as an assistant U.S. attorney. His tenure as a…
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