Nvidia: Ex-prosecutor Joon Kim and Wachtell, Lipton bring big track record to investigation

Joon Kim, the lawyer tapped by artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia to investigate 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.

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 prosecutor there included four years in the Organized Crime and Terrorism Unit.

The SDNY, by virtue of its location in Manhattan, handles some of the most high-profile criminal investigations in the United States, including cases of major financial crimes, government corruption and organized crime.

During his first stint at the SDNY, Kim investigated and prosecuted crimes that included "racketeering, murder, money laundering, securities fraud, firearms and narcotics offenses, tax evasion, and terrorism," the office has previously said.

Kim's trial wins at the SDNY included obtaining a conviction of Peter Gotti, then-head of the Gambino Mafia family, for conspiring to kill notorious mob turncoat Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. Kim and his fellow prosecutors were less successful, however, in prosecuting Peter Gotti's nephew, John Gotti Jr., whose trials ended with several hung juries.

"He could be a very tenacious courtroom advocate," said Chris Conniff, a New York attorney who worked with Kim in the SDNY, and who considers Kim one of 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."

Kim in 2006 returned to Cleary Gottlieb as a partner in the firm's litigation and enforcement group but then went back to the SDNY in 2013. During his second stint there, he served as deputy U.S. attorney, and then served as acting U.S. attorney from 2017 to 2018.

Kim's elevation to acting U.S. attorney came as a result of President Donald Trump's firing of then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in March 2017 after Bharara refused the new president's demand that he resign.

"Preet's departure was very unique," and the mood in the SDNY "was shaky" after his ouster, Conniff said.

"Preet was very well-liked and well-respected," said Conniff, who was in private practice at the time that Bharara was fired. "We just lost a very charismatic and effective leader, and in a very dramatic way."

In taking over from Bharara, Kim, "from my external viewpoint, he righted the ship and continued to do the work of the office in the time he was there."

"Joon, I would say, gave people confirmation that it was going to be alright, and it was going to be business as usual," Conniff said.

Kim left the SDNY in April 2018, and began his third stint at Cleary Gottlieb, which he recently left to join Wachtell, Lipton's litigation department.

Cuomo and FDIC

In March 2021, Kim and another attorney, Anne Clark, a partner at Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, were tapped by New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo over allegations that he had sexually harassed several women.

"These are serious allegations that demand a rigorous and impartial investigation," Kim said in a statement at the time. "We will act judiciously and follow the facts wherever they lead."

Kim and Clark in August 2021 submitted a 165-page report to James, which concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women and then retaliated against a former employee who had publicly complained about his behavior. As part of the probe, Kim, Clark and their team interviewed 179 witnesses and reviewed tens of thousands of documents.

Cuomo adamantly denied some of the allegations and said that other claims of alleged misconduct had been mischaracterized or misinterpreted.

A week after the report was publicly released, Cuomo announced that he would resign.

Two years after the Cuomo probe, Kim was retained by the FDIC to conduct an independent review of allegations of sexual harassment and interpersonal misconduct at the agency. As part of the probe, Kim and his team conducted 167 interviews of current and past FDIC employees, and hundreds of additional interviews with individuals who contacted a hotline the team set up for employees to report misconduct claims.

An April 2024 report by Kim and his team found "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."

More than five years after Cuomo left office, the former governor's spokesman has not forgotten, or forgiven, Kim, whom he accused of writing a report on Cuomo with a predetermined outcome.

Kim was a "hired hack," said the spokesman, Rich Azzopardi.

Azzopardi said Kim "hid evidence" that was exonerating of Cuomo, and accepted at face value "outright lies" from a number of witnesses.

The bad blood between Cuomo's camp and Kim predates the sexual harassment probe.

While working in the SDNY, Kim and Bharara oversaw the investigation that led to the corruption trial of Joseph Percoco, who had been a close aide of Cuomo. The trial took place after both prosecutors had left the office.

Azzopardi cited that prosecution in his scathing remarks about Kim.

Percoco was sentenced to six years in prison after his 2018 conviction for honest-services wire fraud. The conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling in 2023 — after his release from prison — because the judge's instructions to jurors were too vague.

Azzopardi said that Kim and Bharara were motivated to prosecute Percoco for "their own personal glory" and "to generate headlines for themselves."

Bharara, in a two-word email response about Azzopardi's claim, wrote, "Andrew who?," referring to Cuomo.

Azzopardi said he did not believe there was any other reason for Nvidia's board to retain Kim to investigate the Huang situation other than to reach a predetermined outcome by the board.

"I don't know what the aims of the board are," Azzopardi said.

Kim's friend Conniff, when asked if he expected that the Nvidia investigation would be a whitewash that would serve the board's interests, said, "No."

"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," Conniff said. "Any company board that is looking to do a good, thorough investigation of potential wrongdoing, Joon's perfect ... for it."