Justice Department probe of Alice Huang draws in Super Micro Computer
Jensen Huang’s exit as chief executive of Nvidia is unlikely to lower the heat on the chip maker, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk Journal reported on Friday. The newsletter reported that the departure is unlikely to mollify Congress or plaintiffs’ lawyers, and that Nvidia and its board could now also face an onslaught of shareholder lawsuits and broader regulatory pressures bearing on the technology sector in particular.
News of an extramarital affair with a suspected Chinese spy prompted Huang’s resignation. The departure of the AI chip giant’s longtime leader raises questions about corporate governance, national security and U.S.-China relations, the Journal reported, and even before the affair became public the company was the target of bipartisan scrutiny in Washington over chip exports to China.
The enforcement fallout reaches another name in the industry. Super Micro Computer is caught up in a Department of Justice probe into Alice Huang, the suspected Chinese intelligence asset with whom Nvidia’s ousted chief executive had an affair, according to a report. The agency is investigating whether entities linked to Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data-center company Megaspeed, were involved in efforts to smuggle Super Micro products into China, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan is leading the probe.
The same Morning Risk Report edition carried several other enforcement and risk items. Washington is targeting crypto exchange MEXC over alleged illicit transactions linked to Iran, Russia and North Korea, the newsletter reported.
In Europe, Advocate General Juliane Kokott, an advisor to the Court of Justice of the EU, said judges were wrong to assess that officials failed to demonstrate any exclusionary effects of Google’s contractual terms linked to its AdSense platform. Kokott said the General Court should also be asked to look at Google’s objections to the level of the fine, and suggested the charge should be reduced, saying the tribunal’s findings “regarding the lack of demonstration of exclusionary effects in 2016 have not been challenged,” according to a statement from the Court of Justice of the EU. It is now up to the top court to make its verdict at a later date.
Prosecutors say a Cravath employee netted profits related to client matters, including Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, the newsletter also noted.
The midterm elections that swept Democrats into power in Congress on affordability concerns have also given rise to a bipartisan crop of lesser-known, down-ballot politicians who wield enormous power: insurance commissioners, the Journal reported. Jane Kim, a Bernie Sanders-backed progressive who will take office next year as California’s new insurance commissioner, wants the state to insure all homes against wildfire. In Georgia, voters elected a Democrat pledging to challenge unjustified rate increases. Oklahomans chose a Republican self-described “fighter who won’t take orders from insurance lobbyists,” and Kansas elected a Republican pledging to “hold companies accountable for skyrocketing rates.”
The Journal also reported that the deadliest body of water this year is not the Strait of Hormuz. A series of attacks in the Black Sea has killed more people than strikes on shipping so far in the war between Iran and the U.S., disrupting trade routes and turning up the heat on NATO. Russian forces have targeted commercial ships carrying food exports from Ukraine out into the Black Sea, and Ukraine has attacked Russian shipping on the other side of the sea with drones.
The edition closed with a quote from R360 founder Charlie Garcia, who flew to a high-end lodge in the Amazon rainforest for a longevity retreat: “I’m kind of a lab rat doing this, but I’m OK with it.” Concierge doctors, biohacking retreats and AI-driven wellness routines are part of the pursuit of longevity for the superrich, the newsletter reported.