As Nvidia’s board investigates reports that its chief executive was targeted by an alleged Chinese intelligence operative, a London private investigator has set out the warning signs that a new personal or professional contact may not be who they claim to be.
Jensen Huang, the chief executive of the AI chip company Nvidia, admitted in a message to staff on Sunday, November 8th, to a romantic relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.
The board is currently assembling a committee of independent directors who will work with outside counsel to investigate reports of Huang being targeted by foreign intelligence, and President Trump has told reporters that the FBI is also looking into the matter.
As a result, Nvidia shares slid by 4.3% on Monday, erasing nearly $200 billion in market value.
Jack Charman, Managing Director at National Private Investigators, says corporate espionage approaches of this kind are far more methodical than people tend to assume, and are rarely limited to heads of state or defence officials.
“When people hear the phrase ‘honey trap’, they picture an intense femme fatale from a Bond film, but in practice these approaches are slow, patient and built to look like a completely natural, organically developed affair. The initial contact might start at an industry conference, through a LinkedIn message or via a mutual introduction, and it can take months before anything more personal develops. MI5 has been warning UK businesses for several years that networking sites are one of the main routes in for these approaches, so this is not something that only happens to tech giants in Silicon Valley.”
“By the time a relationship becomes close or intimate, the other person often knows a great deal about the target’s work, travel and routines, and the target has usually stopped being cautious.”
Charman added that the warning signs usually sit in the smaller details rather than in anything big or dramatic.
“Be wary of someone whose professional history is hard to verify beyond their own social media, whose company is registered somewhere that is hard to find or owned through several layers, or who shows an unusual amount of interest in your work, your colleagues or your diary. Intense pressure to keep the relationship quiet is another flag, particularly when it is framed as protecting you from the ramifications of an affair rather than protecting themselves.
“Senior executives are often the least scrutinised people in a business, and where a junior employee bringing on a new supplier would face due diligence, a chief executive’s new acquaintance usually faces none, even though that person may be closer to sensitive information.”
Charman advises businesses to treat significant new relationships around senior staff with the same care and scrutiny they would give a new investor or partner.
“A background check will confirm whether someone’s identity, employment history and company connections hold up, and it is far less awkward to do that early on than waiting until later when evidence may be lost.
“Leaders who travel regularly or handle commercially sensitive information should also think about pursuing counter-surveillance, including checking hotel rooms, vehicles and devices regularly for listening devices, as a personal connection is often only one part of a wider effort to gather information, and having access can make it simple to plant such tech.
“Cases like the one being reported at Nvidia are a striking reminder that commercial secrets can be just as valuable as government ones, so any business working in technology, defence, pharmaceuticals or advanced manufacturing should assume it is of interest to someone and plan accordingly.”
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