The $75 Billion Question: The Hidden Cost of the Nvidia Divorce

And welcome back to The Factor on Sense, and we all know NVIDIA, one of the hottest companies right here in this country. But this week, its stock dropped by more than $16 billion, all because its CEO admitted to having an extramarital affair on his wife with a potentially, potential... Chinese spy, and of course, the question is, will Jensen Wong end up in divorce or not? And what will it cost him, the company, and investors? We talk about it tonight here on The Factor Uncensored. Let's get to the conversation. And it's time for Angela After Dark with Dr. Angela Jones. And we have a special guest joining us, Laniece Lewis, who is a divorce attorney. So you know what we're talking about. Something juicy here, and we're talking about billions of dollars at stake with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong and his wife Lori Wong. And guys, we're talking about a lot of money out there. He is accused of having an extramarital affair, has admitted as much to his employees in a letter Sunday. And of course, the stock of the company has taken a hit. But most importantly, Certainly, his. Family, his life has taken a hit, his wife has taken a hit publicly, Dr. Jones. First of all, what is it like being such a high profile and wealthy, one of the richest men and richest couples in the world, to go through something like this from your perspective? Tell us about this. You may have a lot of money, but you're still human, and you're still having human experiences. Unfortunately, for public view, people put these people on pedestals. And right now what's happening is that people have had probably a perception of him of maybe trust and, I don't know, Honor and everything that is happening right now is showing betrayal because betrayal destabilizes more than just the trust in the spouse or the partner. It destabilizes the trust of your perception even in the public. And so even though he admitted this and wrote a statement to his employees of what he did and he probably wanted to be I guess honorable. He didn't I didn't realize how now- Damn late for that, Dr. Jones. Yeah, no, I don't know, but he probably didn't realize like now they're like, okay, you a spy, so they're questioning everything about him and it's a hard place to be. And you said it diminishes the trust, the public trust, it has also affected their stock price. Yeah. They've lost $16 billion in the last two days as a result of this scandal. That's scary, at the end of the day, people are like, yeah, people cheat, but we don't want to know you're cheating. That's the way the public is, but now that we know, it's like, ew, and so he's losing money. I mean, it's horrible that a personal matter is so public, but when you are at this level, there's really not much that's private. Absolutely. Now, let's bring you in. We're talking about a $200 billion fortune. And it could be anywhere from 160 to 200. It could be more. That's a Forbes estimate. And of course, you'll need the forensic investigators, financial investigators to dig deep and go in. Now, they're in the state of California. What does this divorce look like? If they go in that direction, they haven't said they're separating or divorcing or anything to that. But how do you even approach that, Lanise, as a divorce attorney? So the first thing we're looking at is when did they acquire all of this? And my understanding is that this company was founded years into their marriage. She was with him shooting at the gym. She's been with them since they were very young. So we're looking at the character of this. We're saying, okay, is there any component of this that would be his outside of the marriage? And I believe based on what I Have learned about this that the answer is no, this would all be community property subject to being divided. And if I'm not mistaken, I have to put that disclaimer, I'm an attorney licensed in Texas. But in California, I believe that it's a 50-50 split. And so we're looking at half of whatever the value of this is in this company, because it would be a community asset here in Texas. And the interest in that would be a community She would be entitled to have. On behalf of that community interest, that does not mean that she would necessarily have voting rights and be a director or have the authority to act on behalf of the company. But she would have a financial interest and it would be half of whatever his is. And we've heard that she even quit her career to focus on helping him build this company. Many times the wife is the unsung hero in a relationship behind the scenes working and elevating the husband. And many times we don't know, will that bring additional assets and value to her in court? So I guess that it could, right? It could bring that. We're looking at, is she gonna be entitled to any type of alimony? We call it spousal maintenance here. Texas doesn't really favor it, but is she going to be entitled to any of that? But I know if we were here, you could ask for a disproportionate share in Texas. And those are the things you consider, like what is the value of work? What would the benefit have been if both parties had stayed in this marriage? She's going to lose out now by, you know, his actions if she should file for divorce. So she would be entitled to a disproportionate share of the community estate. Again, I think California is a little different and it's a 50-50 thing, but she would definitely benefit from that here in Texas, as well as just the fact that he cheated if he's spending money on his paramour. So nice trips, expensive gifts, buying real estate and all of that. No, Laniece, it's my understanding that their stock, their mutual stock together is in a trust. Yeah. Does that make a difference? So it could. If it's an irrevocable trust, then it would be taken out of the, it could be taken out of the jurisdiction or the authority of the court to decide what happens with it. But I believe these are revocable trusts, which means they still have- Access to this, they still get to determine how these funds are. So they get to put things in and take things out and change their mind. So when we have that, the court is looking at what is the character of that property? Is it separate or is it community? But it doesn't mean that it's off limits because it's in a revocable trust. Because you can still reach and pull it. All right, we're going to take a quick break here and we'll come back with Dr. Angela Jones and Angela After Dark and Laniece Lewis, attorney, in just a moment. And welcome back to The Factor Uncensored, we're talking about that man there, Jensen Huang, who is the CEO of NVIDIA, one of the most successful companies here in America, and he is facing a marital scandal, accused of cheating on his wife with a potential Chinese spy, but New York Times is now reporting there is a second woman, so this could compound his problems, so let's get back to our conversation with Dr. Angela and Angela After Dark. Okay, guys, we're talking about Jensen and Lori Huang, the head of NVIDIA, and they're going through a very public situation where he's admitted to infidelity on his wife, potentially with a possible spy from China who may be there just to steal information from him. Now, Dr. Jones. For those who are wondering, we have seen these high profile individuals like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and many others go through very public separations. Jeff Bezos and his wife, when they become billionaires like this, is there something to this? This is... You know, it could be something to this at the end of the day, you know, with everything happening politically and even right, Trump even made a statement about how like this is such a good man and, you know, he's an honorable person. He's saying that, but looking at our politics and how everything is going here in the United States, I would not be surprised if any of this is all tied together in that space. And so they're probably trying to say, okay, where can I win and where am I gonna lose? What does the future look like? In regards to the wife, her financial security can protect her future, but it's not gonna repair the meaning of their relationship. The settlement Some of it may address like Material losses, but it cannot resolve like the grief of discovering all of these things for her, for her, for their children. But even people who have invested in their business, their company, the stocks, it's not going to repair the reputation that has happened during this time in the relationship. So at the end of the day, an apology is just a statement, but accountability is sustained by pattern of behavior. And also in regards to the wife, the public scrutiny is now going to pressure her and pressure her probably to make decisions before she has made meaning of what has actually happened, right? There's just so many things that are coming out. And explain that to us, Dr. Jones, what kind of pressure would she be under? And what is she, I mean, what decisions would she have to make now because of that pressure? People may demand to know, are you going to stay or are you going to leave? And then they're gonna interpret either choice as a statement about her strength, right? If she decides that she wants to stay, maybe she's already known this and she's already processed and started to forgive. Nobody else knows that, but now they're gonna look at her and determine who is she? Why would she stay in something like that and determine her character based off of her decision? So now, yes, he's under public scrutiny, but now she's going to I'm going to be under public scrutiny based off of how she And that might not be something that she is used to, right? If he's the one who's usually dealing with the public, now she has to deal with the public. She's having to probably make statements. She's probably having to redetermine exactly how she's going to handle the marriage, family, children, all of it, and a very rushed pressure type of state. Is this salvageable now when it's so public like this and all your dirty laundry is aired out, Dr. Jones, is this salvageable? I mean, I am a person of Anything is salvageable. I mean, look at Magic Johnson. I mean, it can happen. It's just how are you going to handle with your perception or your public perception during that time? Yes, I think everything is salvageable. Are you ready for the work that it may take to make it salvageable? And also, are you ready for the work if you decide to end the relationship? Because after, say they do decide to get a divorce, you are now the ex of this person. This is who you are, and So nobody else is going to see you in a different way, which is unfortunate. So yes, is it salvageable? Absolutely. I always have hope, but is it going to be an easy thing to salvage? Absolutely not. At this point, Laniece, if you have $200 billion or $200 and you're the one who is not in control of the money, what should you be doing at this point if you see there's a crack in the wall and things could tumble? What should you be doing at this point? So we want to bring in forensic accounts and we want people to find the money, where is the money, who has control over the money, how much money is being spent. So that's the first thing. When our office deals with high net worth divorces, we are looking to see, okay, we need to bring in some experts, people who know how to find the money, characterize this money, and tell us what to do with it. So that would be the very first step is getting someone on your team who understands All of that, because as the attorneys, we just go into court and argue, right, with the facts. But we need the experts who are able to go in there and locate that money and see what's accessible. There's a lot here, like you said, with those trusts and just access that they may have to these funds and so forth. So you want to have the right people on your team that know how to go in and locate that money. You can then go start asking for whatever access you need to have to it All right, we want to thank you both for joining us here on The Factor Uncensored. This will be interesting to watch, quite interesting. Obviously, it's a tough situation, but people are always intrigued when a lot of money is involved. Laniece Lewis, Dr. Angela Jones, thank you both for joining us here on The Factor Uncensored.