Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is facing major questions about his ties to Cantor Fitzgerald after the firm was linked to White House and US intelligence officials pressing Lutnick to crack down on Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company suspected of funneling NVIDIA's advanced AI chips to China.
The scrutiny kicked off when suspected smuggling involving NVIDIA AI chips to China drew attention.
No direct evidence connects Lutnick's decisions to Cantor's actions, but there are growing worries about possible conflicts of interest and information sharing.
Cantor Fitzgerald backed $3.4B NVIDIA deal
Cantor Fitzgerald has worked closely with NVIDIA for years, even hosting company executives in late September and backing big deals like the $3.4 billion cloud computing contract for IREN.
Since the scandal broke, politicians have been pushing for a deeper look into export licenses and security concerns.
Meanwhile, Cantor's NVIDIA shares have taken a big hit amid ongoing scrutiny.