SAN JOSE, Calif. — A 41-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly impersonating NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang for several weeks in an effort to arrange romantic encounters with individuals he believed were attractive Chinese intelligence operatives.

According to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect, identified as Mark R. Ellison of Sunnyvale, purchased multiple black leather jackets, grew a short beard, and began introducing himself as Huang at technology conferences, hotel bars, and one private dinner in Palo Alto. Witnesses reported that Ellison frequently referenced “the next generation of GPUs” and “sovereign AI infrastructure” while making prolonged eye contact with women of East Asian descent.

Investigators said Ellison had created a fake LinkedIn profile and business cards listing himself as “Jensen Huang, Founder & CEO, NVIDIA.” He also allegedly practiced Huang’s distinctive speaking cadence and habit of placing one hand in his jacket pocket during conversations.

The scheme unraveled when Ellison approached two women at a downtown San Jose hotel lounge and offered them “exclusive early access to Blackwell architecture” in exchange for “discrete bilateral discussions.” The women, who turned out to be software engineers attending a legitimate industry event, contacted hotel security. Officers later recovered from Ellison’s phone a series of notes outlining plans to “leverage the Jensen brand for soft-power introductions with hot Chinese assets.”

In a brief interview following his arrest, Ellison told deputies he had “miscalculated the operational security of modern espionage” and that he “genuinely believed the leather jacket would be sufficient cover.” He added that he had not intended any harm to NVIDIA or its actual CEO, whom he described as “an inspiration in both semiconductors and outerwear.”

NVIDIA declined to comment beyond a short statement confirming that Jensen Huang was in Taipei at the time of the incidents and that the company does not authorize third parties to impersonate its executives for any purpose, romantic or otherwise.

Ellison faces charges of false personation and attempted fraud. Bail was set at $75,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month.

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