The billionaire CEO of one of the world’s most successful companies is drawn into an affair with an alluring, jet-setting businesswoman. He becomes closer and shares more—only to discover that she’s secretly a Chinese spy. It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster. But a version of that plotline is allegedly unfolding for real inside NVIDIA, the world’s second most valuable company. 

CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to an affair, reportedly with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed who is accused of working with the Chinese government. NVIDIA’s board says it’s still investigating the allegations, and that it has no reason to believe trade secrets were compromised. 

Hollywood, meanwhile, has been exploring the “honey trap” plot for nearly a century. Here are ten notable examples.

FX’s critically acclaimed spy drama offers a multi-layered portrayal of the long-term honey trap. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys star as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, Soviet spies infiltrating America during the Cold War. Most honey trap plots portray a female spy as the seducer. The Americans flips the script–with devastating results.

Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova, a Russian ballerina recruited into a secret intelligence program. Pursuing a CIA operative and carefully controlled by her Russian handlers, Egorova discovers that the manipulation of a honey trap agent can go both ways.

The honey trap is a staple of Western spy films. But the same basic plotline cuts across cultures. Her mission is to arrange for her target’s assassination, but feelings begin to get in the way.

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