From a British war minister in 1963 to the head of Nvidia in 2026, nine times a foreign service got close to power, or is said to have. In most of these nine cases, the story came out because someone was already watching the other side. The outcomes varied sharply: concealment ended careers, while criminal results turned on the evidence, the charges and, once, a spy swap.
Court records, government reports and news reports, checked November 8, 2026. Cases marked "alleged" have not been proven in court. Sources are at the end.
01Six Decades in One Timeline
Bars show the reported period of access or association up to public disclosure, not necessarily how long anyone was spying. They measure different things: a job, a relationship, alleged activity or, for Rocha, admitted covert service. Each bar runs from when the access or the relationship began, as far as it has been reported, to the year the case became public. The dark upright tick is when the authorities knew, where that is on the record. The color is how it came out. Tap a color to pick out one kind of discovery, or tap a row to jump to the case.
access or relationshipauthorities knewbecame public
The first thing the timeline shows is how long these things run. Rocha spied for half a century. Katrina Leung was on the FBI payroll for twenty years while, prosecutors alleged, also working for Beijing. The man China tried to recruit in Dianne Feinstein's office had been on her staff for about twenty. The second thing is the gap between the tick and the dot. In these cases the FBI knew years before anyone else did, and with both politicians it said so privately and left it there. Feinstein and Eric Swalwell were both told about five years before the public was.
02How They Were Caught
I have grouped the cases by how each one came to light rather than by date, because that is where the lessons are. In this group, very few started with someone suspecting the senator, the governor or the chief executive. They started with a recording, a tip, a defector or an office manager who noticed something.
1. A voice on a wiretap
Katrina Leung, the FBI and China (1982 to 2003)
Katrina Leung was a Los Angeles businesswoman and Republican fundraiser with unusually good connections in Beijing. The FBI signed her up as a source on China in 1982, code-named her Parlor Maid and, over the next two decades, paid her about $1.7 million. Her handler, James J. Smith, ran her for nearly all of that time, and he was having an affair with her for nearly all of that time. So was a second FBI counterintelligence agent, William Cleveland.
How it came out. In 1991, Cleveland was listening to an intercepted call between an officer of China's Ministry of State Security and a source, and he recognized the voice. It was Leung. He told Smith. Smith confronted her, accepted her explanation and kept her on the books for another ten years. The Inspector General later found there had been warnings about her even before that call. The FBI did not open a formal investigation of her until May 2001, and added a task force in February 2002. Only then did agents find she had been copying classified material Smith brought to her house, including a secret document. The Inspector General's 2006 report said the bureau had missed the warning signs for years.
What happened next. Both were arrested in April 2003. Smith pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the affair and got three months of home confinement. The case against Leung was thrown out in January 2005 for prosecutorial misconduct, and in December 2005 she pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and filing a false tax return: three years of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. Nobody was ever convicted of spying.
2. A quiet warning from the FBI
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office (about 1993 to 2013)
For about twenty years, a member of Dianne Feinstein's staff in San Francisco drove her around, ran errands and served as her liaison to the city's Chinese-American community. He has been named in reporting as Russell Lowe. In 2013, while Feinstein chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, the FBI told her that China's Ministry of State Security had been trying to use him.
How it came out. The FBI found it, not Feinstein, and told her quietly. He left her office straight away. The public found out in August 2018, five years later, when news reports surfaced and Feinstein confirmed it, saying he never had access to classified or sensitive information.
What happened next. Nothing, formally. He was never charged, and no finding was ever made against Feinstein. It was a recruitment attempt on someone close to a senator, not a stolen secret, and no charges followed in this case.
Rep. Eric Swalwell and Christine Fang (about 2011 to 2015)
Christine Fang arrived in the Bay Area as a student at Cal State East Bay and spent several years becoming a familiar face in local politics: campaign events, Chinese-American groups, city councils. One of the politicians she got close to was Eric Swalwell, who was on the Dublin city council when they met and in Congress by 2013. She helped raise money for his 2014 re-election and helped place an intern in his office. U.S. officials believed she was working for the Ministry of State Security.
How it came out. The FBI had been watching her. In 2015 it gave Swalwell a defensive briefing, he cut ties, and Fang left the country that year. Axios reported the story in December 2020.
What happened next. Swalwell was not accused of wrongdoing, and the House Ethics Committee closed its review in May 2023 without taking action. It still cost him something: in January 2023, Speaker Kevin McCarthy kept him off the House Intelligence Committee and cited the Fang episode. Fang was never charged.
3. Her own office, then the money
Linda Sun and Gov. Kathy Hochul's office (2012 to 2023, alleged)
Linda Sun spent more than a decade in New York state government, working for Andrew Cuomo and then Kathy Hochul, and rose to be Hochul's deputy chief of staff. Federal prosecutors say she spent that time quietly working for the Chinese government: keeping Taiwanese officials away from the governors, changing official statements about China and the Uyghurs, and arranging invitations for Chinese officials.
How it came out. Hochul's office says it found evidence of misconduct, fired her in March 2023 and reported her to law enforcement. The case that followed is built on money. Prosecutors say China's help steered millions of dollars of business to her husband, Chris Hu, which paid for a Ferrari, a house in Manhasset worth about $4 million and a condo in Honolulu. The detail everyone remembers: Nanjing-style salted ducks, prepared by a Chinese official's personal chef, delivered to her parents' home.
What happened next. Sun and Hu were arrested in September 2024 and pleaded not guilty. The trial ended in a mistrial in December 2025 when the jury could not agree. The original 2024 charges already included money-laundering conspiracy. In September 2026 prosecutors filed a new indictment adding a 20th count, a second money-laundering conspiracy charge tied to alleged kickbacks on New York's COVID-era protective equipment contracts, and a retrial was tentatively set for January 2027. Neither Hochul nor Cuomo has been accused of anything.
4. An FBI sting
Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha (1973 to 2023)
Here the spy was not getting close to power. He was power. Victor Manuel Rocha was a career diplomat who worked on Latin America at the National Security Council and was U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. After he left the State Department, he advised the commander of U.S. Southern Command, the military command that covers Cuba. Prosecutors said Cuban intelligence had recruited him in Chile in 1973, and that he worked for Havana the whole way up.
How it came out. After a tip whose source has never been made public, the FBI sent him a WhatsApp message in November 2022 from an undercover agent posing as a representative of Cuban intelligence, with greetings "from your friends in Havana". Rocha took the bait. Over a series of meetings in Miami, he talked about his decades of work for Cuba and called the United States "the enemy".
What happened next. He was arrested in December 2023, pleaded guilty in April 2024 to acting as an agent of Cuba and was sentenced the same day to 15 years in prison. It is the only long prison sentence in this whole list.
5. Years of FBI watching
The Russian "illegals" (1990s to 2010)
Ten people living ordinary lives in New Jersey, New York, Boston and Virginia were arrested in June 2010. They were "illegals", deep-cover agents of Russia's foreign intelligence service, with no diplomatic passports and invented backstories, sent to make friends with people in policy and money. Anna Chapman ran a property website in Manhattan. Cynthia Murphy worked at a Manhattan accounting firm and had done work for Alan Patricof, a venture capitalist and major Democratic fundraiser, who was not accused of anything.
How it came out. The FBI had been watching them for about a decade, reading their messages, listening in their homes and filming their handoffs, in an operation it called Ghost Stories. Russian newspapers later named a senior officer in Russia's own service, Alexander Poteyev, as the man who gave the network away and fled, and a Russian court convicted him of treason in his absence.
What happened next. All ten pleaded guilty to acting as unregistered agents and were flown to Vienna within two weeks of their arrest, where they were swapped for four people Russia had jailed, including Sergei Skripal. They went home to a welcome. None of the Americans they had cultivated was charged.
Maria Butina, the NRA and Republican circles (about 2013 to 2018)
Maria Butina founded a Russian gun-rights group and, with the backing of Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russia's central bank, spent years building ties to the National Rifle Association and senior Republicans. She moved to Washington as a graduate student in 2016. Her boyfriend, Republican operative Paul Erickson, opened doors.
How it came out. She was not subtle. In July 2015, she stood up at a campaign event in Las Vegas and asked Donald Trump about sanctions on Russia, on camera. The FBI investigated her contacts, and she was arrested in July 2018.
What happened next. She pleaded guilty in December 2018 to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of Russia, was sentenced in April 2019 to 18 months and was deported that October with credit for time served. In 2021 she was elected to Russia's parliament. No American she cultivated was charged in her case.
6. The papers first, then a confession
John Profumo, Britain (1961 to 1963)
The case that set the template is British, and it remains a familiar reference point for scandals that mix an intimate relationship with national-security worries. In 1961, John Profumo, Britain's Secretary of State for War, began an affair with Christine Keeler, a 19-year-old model. Keeler was also seeing Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attache whom British intelligence believed to be a Soviet intelligence officer.
How it came out. Not through MI5. A shooting at the London flat where Keeler was staying, in December 1962, put her in the papers, and the rumours followed. In March 1963 Profumo told the House of Commons there had been "no impropriety whatever". In June he admitted that was a lie and resigned.
What happened next. Lord Denning's inquiry found no evidence that national security had been breached. Ivanov had already left London for Moscow. The Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, resigned that October, citing ill health. Profumo spent the rest of his life working at Toynbee Hall, a charity in the East End of London, and was made a CBE in 1975. He lost everything for the lie, not for the affair.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia (2026, alleged)
On October 29, 2026, The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence officials believe Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, had passed information to China's Ministry of State Security, and that she had a close relationship with Jensen Huang. They are not related. Megaspeed has been reported to have bought about $4.8 billion of Nvidia equipment, and U.S. officials have been looking at whether Nvidia chips bought through it ended up in China against export rules. Nvidia said at first that the relationship was strictly professional. China denies any spying.
How it came out. The newspaper first, and then on November 8 his own email to Nvidia staff: "I was unfaithful to my wife." His email does not name the woman; it is the reporting that identifies her. He took full responsibility and said he is fully committed to Nvidia.
What happened next. It is still happening. Nvidia's board set up a committee of independent directors with outside lawyers, said (in its statement) it has "no reason to believe" national security or Nvidia's secrets were compromised, and kept him as chief executive. The chairs of the House China, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees asked for a closed-door briefing by November 18, and the President said the government is looking at it closely. Nothing reported so far shows that Huang passed anything on. See what to watch below.
03Who Paid
Side by side, the outcomes in these nine cases vary widely. Prison time was rare, most of the people close to power kept their jobs, and among the people approached or compromised, Profumo and Smith faced consequences for concealing a relationship rather than for spying. Where agents were convicted, it was for acting for a foreign government, and the charges and evidence decided the rest.
| Case (year public) | What happened to the target | Case outcome |
|---|---|---|
| John Profumo (1963) | Resigned after lying to Parliament | Ivanov had already gone home |
| Katrina Leung (2003) | Handler Smith: 3 months home confinement for lying | Spying case dismissed; probation for lying and a false tax return |
| Russian illegals (2010) | No contacts charged | Swapped home within two weeks |
| Feinstein staffer (2018) | No finding against Feinstein | Never charged |
| Maria Butina (2018) | No one she cultivated charged in her case | 18 months, deported, elected to the Duma |
| Christine Fang (2020) | Ethics review closed with no action; later kept off Intelligence | Left the U.S. in 2015; never charged |
| Victor Manuel Rocha (2023) | He was the official | 15 years in prison |
| Linda Sun (2024) | Hochul and Cuomo not accused | Hung jury; retrial pending |
| Jensen Huang (2026) | Board inquiry; still CEO | No charges reported |
04What the Cases Have in Common
Five patterns in these nine cases
- Most were found by watching the other side. Leung was a voice on a Chinese intelligence call. Fang was already on the FBI's radar. The illegals were given away by a Russian. In this group, almost none started with someone suspecting the senator.
- The FBI told the target first, and quietly. In both political cases here, a defensive briefing was the first move. Feinstein and Swalwell were both told about five years before the public was, and neither was accused of anything.
- Concealment ended careers. Profumo resigned for lying to Parliament. Smith and Leung were both convicted of lying, not of spying. The agents who were convicted of more, Rocha and Butina, were convicted of acting for a foreign government.
- Prison time was the exception. Rocha got 15 years and Butina 18 months. The others here were swapped, left the country, were never charged or are still awaiting a verdict.
- The newest case is about business. The older cases here involve ministers, senators and staff. The Huang case brings corporate information, access to political decision-makers and advanced-chip export controls into the same investigation.
05What Happens Next With Huang
As of November 8, 2026, this is where things stand, and what to watch:
The board's committee. Independent directors with outside lawyers are looking at the relationship. The questions that matter are plain ones: was any confidential information accessed or disclosed, were the relationship and any conflicts properly disclosed, were Nvidia's security procedures followed, and did any transactions break export rules.
Congress. The chairs of three House committees have asked for a closed-door briefing by November 18. Briefings like that rarely become public quickly, so silence afterward should not be read as a clean bill of health, or as the opposite.
Megaspeed and export controls. The bigger story may be the company rather than the relationship. If U.S. officials conclude that Nvidia hardware bought through Megaspeed was diverted to China, that becomes an export-control question. Whether it would mean any violation by Nvidia itself would depend on the transactions and on what the company knew.
The money. Most of Huang's fortune is Nvidia stock, so the market will keep its own score. His net worth page tracks it as the share price moves.
06Sources
- Axios: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits affair, board to launch investigation (Nov 8, 2026)
- Nvidia: A Message to Our Company (Jensen Huang, Nov 8, 2026)
- CNBC: Huang's email to his staff and the statement from Nvidia's board (Nov 8, 2026)
- Associated Press: Nvidia denies report that its CEO was targeted (on The New York Times report of Oct 29, 2026)
- House China, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committee chairs: letter to Jensen Huang requesting a briefing (Nov 4, 2026)
- Free Press Journal: Huang asked to brief Congress over reported ties to alleged Chinese spy
- U.S. Justice Department Inspector General: A Review of the FBI's Handling and Oversight of FBI Asset Katrina Leung (2006)
- Washington Times: China targeted Dianne Feinstein staff member (Aug 8, 2018)
- Axios: Swalwell says he was "shocked" when the FBI alerted him to a suspected Chinese spy (Dec 9, 2020)
- U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York: Linda Sun and Chris Hu charged (Sept 3, 2024)
- Al Jazeera: Former aide to New York governor charged as agent of Chinese government (Sept 3, 2024)
- ABC7 New York: Judge declares mistrial in the Linda Sun case (Dec 2025)
- Vision Times: Linda Sun hit with 20th charge ahead of retrial (Oct 6, 2026)
- U.S. Justice Department: Rocha admits secretly acting as an agent of Cuba (Apr 12, 2024)
- CBS News: Victor Manuel Rocha pleads guilty and is sentenced to 15 years (Apr 2024)
- NPR: U.S., Russia swap 14 spies (July 9, 2010)
- U.S. Attorney, District of Columbia: Maria Butina sentenced to 18 months (Apr 26, 2019)
- Wikipedia: The Profumo affair, with the Denning report and Hansard references