Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – The U.S. Department of Justice arrested two U.S. citizens and two Chinese citizens on Thursday (November 20) on charges of illegally selling Nvidia's cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips to China via Malaysia and Thailand. They are accused of violating and conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act, smuggling, money laundering, and conspiracy to launder money.
Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg, who oversees national security, and Gregory W. Kehoe, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Florida, announced Thursday that the two U.S. citizens and two Chinese citizens, all residing in the United States, are charged with conspiring to illegally export advanced Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) with artificial intelligence (AI) applications to China.
The two arrested Chinese citizens are Cham Li, 38, a resident of San Leander, California, and Jing Chen, 45, a resident of Tampa, Florida, the latter holding an F-1 nonimmigrant student visa. Two U.S. citizens, 34-year-old Hon Ning Ho, born in Hong Kong and residing in Florida, and 46-year-old Brian Curtis Raymond, residing in Huntsville, Alabama, were arrested on Wednesday and have appeared in court.
They are charged with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, smuggling, money laundering, and conspiracy to launder money. Each charge of violating the Export Control Reform Act carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, each charge of smuggling carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and each charge of money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The Department of Justice statement noted that the criminal complaint only presents allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until convicted beyond a reasonable doubt.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security Eisenberg stated in a press release: “The indictment released yesterday alleges that the defendants intentionally and fraudulently diverted controlled Nvidia graphics processors to China through forgery, fabrication of contracts, and misleading U.S. authorities. The National Security Division is committed to combating such black market transactions involving sensitive U.S. technologies and bringing those involved in such illicit trade to justice.”
The indictment states that from September 2023 to November 2025, the four individuals conspired to violate U.S. export control regulations by using a Tampa, Florida real estate company owned and controlled by He and Li as a front to illegally export advanced GPUs to China via Malaysia and Thailand. Raymond, through his Alabama-based electronics company, supplied He and others with the Nvidia graphics processors illegally exported to China.
The indictment further alleges that the conspiracy involved four separate exports of these graphics processors to China. The first and second exports resulted in the export of 400 Nvidia A100 GPUs to China between October 2024 and January 2025. The third and fourth attempts to export the items were blocked by law enforcement and thus failed. These attempted exports involved ten Hewlett Packard Enterprises supercomputers, each containing Nvidia H100 GPUs and 50 Nvidia H200 GPUs.
The Department of Justice stated that despite knowing that exporting these items to China required a license, all the conspirators failed to apply for or obtain any licenses for any of the exports. Instead, they lied about the final destination of the GPUs to circumvent U.S. export controls. The indictment also alleges that the conspirators received more than $3.89 million in wire transfers from China.
The indictment states that China aims to become a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 and plans to apply AI to military modernization, the design and testing of weapons of mass destruction, and the deployment of advanced AI surveillance tools.
Due to national security concerns, the U.S. has imposed export controls on some Nvidia chips exported to China. Nvidia therefore specifically customized a "downgraded" version of the H20 chip for the Chinese market. In June of this year, Trump authorized Nvidia to sell H2O chips to China after meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the White House.
In August, the U.S. Department of Justice also arrested two Chinese citizens residing in Southern California, accusing them of knowingly exporting tens of millions of dollars worth of sensitive microchips used in artificial intelligence (AI) to China.
