US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is under fire amid the scandal surrounding former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's affair with a suspected Chinese spy. With his job reportedly on the line, how did Lutnick get caught in the crossfire?
President Donald Trump nominated Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department when he was the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a New York investment bank which held about $1.2 billion in Nvidia stock at the time.
Lutnick and Jensen Huang have maintained close ties for years. Now that US intelligence suspects Alice Huang—with whom Jensen had a relationship—of being a Chinese spy, investigators are aggressively tracing her company's dealings and linked entities.
Alice Huang ran Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based firm that became one of Nvidia's largest AI chip customers. The company is suspected of circumventing a US ban by illegally shipping Nvidia's most advanced processors to Chinese entities.
As commerce secretary, Lutnick took the helm of the agency tasked with policing sensitive technology exports to adversaries and global rivals.
It is largely through its Entity List that the Commerce Department keeps sensitive information and technology out of the hands of China and other adversaries. By placing foreign companies and individuals on the list, the department restricts their access to US technology products. Inclusion signals that officials believe an entity poses a risk of engaging in activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests.
Under the Biden administration in 2024, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security opened an investigation into whether Nvidia chips sold to Megaspeed were being redirected to China. The probe was later abruptly handed over to the Department of Justice, according to The New York Times.
Since October 2025, the Commerce Department has not added a company to the Entity List.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Lutnick over the Commerce Department's failure to place Megaspeed on the Entity List, Axios reported.
There are accusations that the Commerce Department was aware that Megaspeed was being run by a woman who is believed by the US to be a Chinese spy, and yet they did nothing.
CBS News reported that after Jensen Huang's resignation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called on Lutnick and his deputy, Jeffrey Kessler, to "explain why they have not closed export control loopholes."
It was also reported that in March Warren had written to Lutnick to demand the "immediate pausing" of all export licenses of Nvidia chips destined for China.
Questions about Lutnick's own relationship with Chinese state companies have further complicated the ongoing Nvidia crisis.
BGC Group, a financial services firm Lutnick previously ran, held a 33% stake in a joint venture with China Credit Trust—a state-owned company whose largest shareholder is another state enterprise, the China People's Insurance Company.
Also, Cantor Fitzgerald, now overseen by his two eldest sons, helped several Chinese companies go public in the US.
Before he was sworn in as commerce secretary in February 2025, Lutnick resigned from all of his corporate leadership posts, transferring his business empire to his children. Since his tenure as commerce secretary began, Lutnick and his family's net worth doubled to $7.3 billion, according to Forbes.
