Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang began working with a crisis communications firm known for handling public scandals a year before the CEO admitted to having an extramarital affair with a woman suspected by US intelligence of being a Chinese spy. The firm, Heller, has handled Huang’s behind-the-scenes communications since at least October 2025, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Risa Heller, the firm’s founder, has built a reputation as a fixer for powerful men facing allegations of sexual misconduct and other personal controversies, according to a 2023 New York Magazine profile. Her past clients and people who have sought her advice include former congressman Anthony Weiner, chef Mario Batali, and writer Jeffrey Toobin. Heller also handles corporate communications and issues unrelated to personal controversies for its clients.

Heller’s public relations consultants were initially believed to be hired for matters related to Huang’s personal life, including his family’s philanthropic endeavors, according to people familiar with the arrangement. The firm frequently communicated with Huang and his daughter Madison, a product marketing director at Nvidia who has become an increasingly prominent figure within the company, sources tell WIRED. It’s not clear whether Heller’s early work with the Huang family involved Huang’s affair.

In 2024, Huang began appearing in public with a woman who goes by Alice Huang, a former executive at the Singapore-based chip buyer Megaspeed, according to The New York Times. Megaspeed was created when it split off from a Chinese gaming and cloud computing firm in 2023, a few months after the US government began restricting exports of advanced semiconductors to China, including those developed by Nvidia.

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