The sex spies infiltrating America – and the ‘lonely and naive’ geniuses who are easy

For years, US intelligence chiefs have warned of Chinese spies infiltrating Silicon Valley, fueling fears that Beijing is hunting for the secrets behind America’s technological dominance.

But the scandal engulfing Nvidia boss Jensen Huang over his romantic trysts with an alleged Chinese spy has brought those lingering fears into razor-sharp focus.

Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife but denied knowing of any alleged espionage, before he quickly resigned as CEO following reports of a second affair with a company executive. Allegations of a third, with another employee, have since emerged, too.

‘Every CEO, every senior engineer, is a target,’ one expert on government espionage told the Daily Mail. But America’s corporate elite are only part of the picture.

A growing list of extraordinary cases suggests the threat reaches far beyond America’s technology industry, penetrating various facets of everyday life in the US.

The House Homeland Security Committee has documented more than 60 cases of Chinese Communist Party-related espionage and other interference across 20 states since 2021.

Among the most startling was the case of Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, an affluent Southern California city nicknamed the ‘Chinese Beverly Hills’.

Wang became one of the first American elected officials to admit secretly working as an unregistered agent for Beijing after pleading guilty in May.

Federal prosecutors said she worked with a Chinese government-linked agent to run a website posing as a news outlet for Chinese Americans, pushing propaganda from Beijing.

She posted material denying the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region, then reported back to her handlers about its readership.

Wang admitted in May 2026 to carrying out the work without notifying US authorities that she was acting for a foreign government. She has yet to be sentenced.

Wang’s arrest followed another extraordinary case involving Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Sun was arrested in September 2024 and accused of secretly working for Beijing while occupying influential roles in the New York state government.

Prosecutors alleged she blocked Taiwanese envoys from meeting senior officials, altered government communications and helped advance China’s political interests.

Her husband, Chris Hu, was also accused of participating in financial schemes involving millions of dollars in alleged kickbacks and money laundering.

The couple’s federal trial ended in a mistrial in December 2025, after jurors failed to reach unanimous verdicts on any of the 19 counts.

Prosecutors said they wanted a retrial, with a court conference scheduled for January 26. Both defendants have denied wrongdoing.

New York had already become a focus of concern after the FBI raided an unauthorized Chinese police station in Manhattan’s Chinatown in October 2022.

The operation, linked to China’s Ministry of Public Security, allegedly helped track and intimidate Chinese dissidents living in America.

The growing list of cases has also included alleged theft of some of America’s most sensitive military technology.

Former engineer Chenguang Gong was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison in November 2025 after pleading guilty to stealing trade secrets.

He had transferred more than 3,600 files from his former employer, containing technology developed for detecting nuclear missile launches and tracking ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

The technology was intended for use by the US government and military, making the theft particularly sensitive.

Perhaps the most dramatic demonstration of China’s intelligence ambitions came in February 2023, when a massive high-altitude balloon crossed the US.

The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon passed near sensitive military installations, including nuclear missile fields in Montana, before a US fighter jet shot it down off South Carolina.

The Pentagon subsequently said the balloon had not collected intelligence while crossing American airspace, after US officials took steps to block it from doing so.

But the incident exposed the extraordinary reach of Beijing’s surveillance capabilities and further inflamed tensions between Washington and Beijing.

In 2023, US spy chiefs exposed Volt Typhoon, a Chinese state-sponsored hacking operation that had secretly infiltrated key infrastructure across America.

The hackers gained access to communications, energy, transportation and water systems, potentially positioning themselves to sabotage essential services during a future conflict.

US agencies warned that some intrusions had remained undetected for years, with hackers hiding inside legitimate computer networks rather than using malicious software.

Now, Huang, the 63-year-old billionaire founder of Nvidia, has been drawn into the widening espionage crisis.

Huang admitted to an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman whom US intelligence reportedly suspects of working for Beijing.

She was associated with Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed International, whose Malaysian affiliates reportedly purchased billions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia equipment.

US authorities have examined whether advanced chips were being diverted to Chinese customers despite American export restrictions.

Huang resigned as Nvidia chief executive on Thursday, after the scandal deepened with reports of a second affair, this time with a company executive who reported to him, according to Reuters.

Nvidia’s board had already launched an independent investigation into whether he was targeted by foreign intelligence, while saying it had no reason to believe company secrets or national security were compromised.

The controversy wiped approximately $430 billion from Nvidia’s market value over two trading sessions, according to Reuters, and raised questions about President Donald Trump’s relationship with Huang and whether his administration responded to intelligence warnings.

The Daily Mail spoke to experts on espionage and the increasingly bitter technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

They warned that personal relationships can offer spies access that sophisticated hacking cannot.

Aliia Roza, a 42-year-old Russian-born woman who claims to have been trained as a government seduction agent, believes America’s technology executives are particularly vulnerable.

She describes ‘sexpionage,’ in which attractive operatives cultivate romantic relationships with influential targets to extract valuable information.

‘What used to be done in the Cold War with hidden cameras and hotel rooms is now done online – on LinkedIn, Instagram, FaceTime, even through virtual sex,’ she told the Daily Mail.

Roza said operatives can create convincing online identities, posing as attractive women with professional backgrounds before gradually building intimate relationships with powerful men.

‘Men in Silicon Valley are geniuses in technology – but emotionally, many are lonely and naïve,’ she said.

‘They live in a digital world and don’t realize when they’re being manipulated.’

She believes AI can make the approach more effective, helping generate flattering, highly personalized messages designed to win someone’s confidence.

The strategy, she said, is to build trust and emotional dependency before exploiting the relationship.

One of the most notorious earlier examples of alleged Chinese political cultivation involved Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang.

Between 2011 and 2015, Fang cultivated relationships with rising politicians in California, including congressman Eric Swalwell.

She helped raise money for his campaign and facilitated the placement of an intern in his congressional office, according to reporting based on US intelligence officials.

Fang abruptly returned to China in 2015 after American authorities raised concerns about her activities.

Swalwell was never accused of knowingly participating in espionage, and there is no public evidence he passed classified information to Beijing.

National security commentator Gordon Chang said the case demonstrated how early foreign intelligence agencies can begin cultivating influential Americans.

‘The first time China’s Ministry of State Security contacted Eric Swalwell was not when he was on the House Intelligence Committee,’ Chang said.

‘It was when he was sitting on the city council of Dublin City, California.’

He added: ‘Swalwell could not have been the only person that China was grooming – there must be hundreds or thousands of Swalwells.’

Chang believes the threat crosses party lines and geographical boundaries.

‘It is not a California problem or a Democrat problem,’ he said. ‘It is an everywhere problem.’

Romantic manipulation is not a Chinese tactic alone. In 2010, Russian operative Anna Chapman and nine other deep-cover agents were arrested after years undercover in America.

They had cultivated personal and professional relationships while secretly gathering information for Moscow, before pleading guilty and being exchanged for prisoners held in Russia.

China has repeatedly rejected allegations of conducting espionage operations against America. Its Foreign Ministry has dismissed the claims surrounding Huang as groundless and politically motivated.

The vulnerability is ultimately psychological rather than technological, Roza told the Daily Mail.

‘The real weapon isn’t beauty – it’s self-belief. If you know your worth, you can’t be manipulated.’