According to a press release from the Department of Justice published on Thursday, two Chinese citizens residing in the United States, along with one Chinese American and one American, have been charged with conspiring to illegally export advanced NVIDIA graphic processing units (GPUs) to China for use in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
The Department of Justice’s National Security Assistant Attorney General, John A. Eisenberg, and Federal Prosecutor for the Middle District of Florida, Gregory W. Kehoe, announced the latest case of high-tech chip smuggling on Thursday.
The individuals arrested include: 34-year-old American citizen Hon Ning Ho, also known as Mathew Ho, born in Hong Kong and residing in Tampa, Florida; 46-year-old American citizen Brian Curtis Raymond, residing in Huntsville, Alabama; 38-year-old Chinese citizen Cham Li, also known as Tony Li, residing in San Leandro, California; and 45-year-old Chinese citizen Jing Chen, also known as Harry Chen, holding an F-1 non-immigrant student visa and residing in Tampa, Florida. Ho and Chen were arrested and appeared in court in the Middle District of Florida on Wednesday, while Raymond was arrested and appeared in court in the Northern District of Alabama. Li was also arrested on Wednesday and is scheduled to appear in court today in the Northern District of California.
The indictment shows that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) aims to become a global leader in the field of artificial intelligence by 2030 and plans to use AI for military modernization and the design and testing of mass-destruction weapons, as well as deploying advanced AI surveillance tools. To achieve this goal, the PRC seeks to obtain cutting-edge technologies, including NVIDIA GPUs, from the United States. To protect national security, the U.S. Department of Commerce has implemented new licensing requirements for exporting such technology to the PRC since October 2022.
The indictment states that from September 2023 to November 2025, Ho, Raymond, Li, and Chen, at the behest of others, violated U.S. key export control regulations by illegally exporting advanced GPUs to China via Malaysia and Thailand. To advance this conspiracy, they used Janford Realtor LLC, a company owned and controlled by Ho and Li in Tampa, Florida, as a front to purchase and unlawfully export regulated GPUs to China. Despite the company being named Janford Realtor LLC, it has never been involved in any real estate transactions. Raymond provided NVIDIA GPUs to Ho and others through his electronics company in Alabama for illegal export to China as part of this conspiracy.
Furthermore, the indictment alleges that this conspiracy involved four separate incidents of exporting NVIDIA GPUs to China. The first and second export actions resulted in 400 NVIDIA A100 GPUs being exported to China between October 2024 and January 2025. The third and fourth export actions were not completed due to law enforcement intervention and involved ten Hewlett Packard Enterprises supercomputers (each equipped with NVIDIA H100 GPUs) and 50 NVIDIA H200 GPUs.
The Department of Justice’s press release states that despite knowing that exporting these items to China required a license, all conspirators failed to apply for or obtain any export licenses. Instead, they misrepresented the intended destination of the GPUs to evade U.S. export controls. The indictment also alleges that the conspirators received over $3.89 million in wire transfers from China to fund this illegal scheme.
According to the indictment, the U.S. will also seek to seize the 50 NVIDIA H200 GPUs, which are items or technology illegally exported.
“The indictment announced yesterday accuses individuals of intentionally falsifying documents, creating false contracts, and misleading U.S. authorities in an attempt to ship controlled NVIDIA GPUs to China,” Eisenberg stated in the press release. “The national security sector is committed to combating black market transactions involving sensitive U.S. technology and holding those involved in such illegal trade accountable under the law.”
“As indicated by this indictment, the Middle District of Florida federal prosecutor’s office is steadfast in safeguarding our nation’s national security,” Kehoe stated in the press release. “Thanks to the diligent investigation by our law enforcement partners, those defendants involved in the illegal export of sensitive technology are being legally sanctioned.”
The Department of Justice’s press release also lists the specific charges and potential penalties faced by the four defendants.
Ho is charged with four counts of conspiracy violations under the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), three counts of smuggling, and nine counts of money laundering.
Brian Curtis Raymond is charged with two counts of conspiracy violations under the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), one count of smuggling, and seven counts of money laundering.
Cham Li is charged with one count of conspiracy violations under the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), one count of smuggling, and money laundering.
Chen is charged with two counts of conspiracy violations under the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), one count of smuggling, and money laundering.
Each violation of the Export Control Reform Act carries a potential sentence of 20 years in prison; each count of smuggling carries a penalty of 10 years in prison; and each count of money laundering carries a potential sentence of 20 years in prison.