Federal authorities arrested four men for shipping contraband Nvidia chips, which are critical components for artificial intelligence companies. The men allegedly created an elaborate smuggling network that saw the chips shipped from Alabama through Malaysia and Thailand, and eventually to recipients in China, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
The accused men failed to obtain such permission as they allegedly sought to evade export controls that restrict the shipment of Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs). According to an indictment, the military in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) sought the chips for “weapons design and testing, including for weapons of mass destruction as well as in connection with the PRC’s development and deployment of advanced AI surveillance tools.” It added that China is developing supercomputing capabilities and intends to become “the world leader in AI by 2030.”
The export controls, imposed by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security on advanced computing chips and on computers and devices that contain the chips, have been in place since October 2022.
“As demonstrated by this indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida is firmly committed to safeguarding our country’s national security,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida in a statement. “Thanks to the dedicated investigative work by our law enforcement partners, these defendants who wrongfully exported this sensitive technology are facing justice.”
The arrests, which took place Wednesday in Florida, Alabama, and California, included Hon Ning Ho, also known as Matthew Ho, 34, a U.S. citizen born in Hong Kong and living in Tampa, Fla.; Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, a U.S. citizen from Huntsville, Ala.; Cham Li, 38, also known as Tony Li, from China and now living in San Leandro, Calif.; and Jing Chen, 45, a Chinese national on an F-1 nonimmigrant student visa living in Tampa, Fla. Chen and Ho appeared in court in Florida yesterday, Raymond appeared in court in Alabama, and Li appeared in court in California on Thursday.
The indictment describes Raymond as the CEO and sole owner of an unnamed distributor of U.S. technology products licensed to sell Nvidia GPUs. According to his LinkedIn bio, Raymond operates a company called Bitworks, which claims to deliver “AI at scale with Nvidia HGX and DGX as a certified cloud partner.” On LinkedIn, Raymond also identifies himself as the chief technology officer of Corvex, an Arlington, Va.-based AI cloud company, a role he listed as starting in October. Corvex announced last week it would merge with med-tech firm Movano, and go public once the transaction completes.
A Corvex spokesman told Fortune: “Corvex had no part in the activities cited in the Department of Justice’s indictment. The person in question is not an employee of Corvex. Previously a consultant to the company, he was transitioning into an employee role but that offer has been rescinded.”
Raymond did not respond to requests for comment. A message left for Ho was unreturned. Attempts to reach Li and Chen were unsuccessful.
According to the indictment, the scheme centered around a front company, Janford Realtor LLC, that operated in Tampa and was owned and controlled by Ho and Li. Through the front company, Ho, Chen, and Li identified potential customers in China who wanted to buy Nvidia GPUs and then made orders through Janford and another unnamed U.S. company. Ho and other unnamed co-conspirators bought the GPUs from unnamed vendors, including from Raymond and another unnamed U.S. company, the indictment states.
The ring was allegedly successful in smuggling two separate exports, including 400 Nvidia A100 GPUs shipped to China between October 2024 and January 2025 in two shipments. The third and fourth shipments were disrupted by law enforcement, but allegedly included 10 Hewlett Packard Enterprise supercomputers stuffed with Nvidia H100 GPUs and another 50 Nvidia H200 GPUs.
Authorities said Janford was never involved in any real estate transactions. Raymond allegedly supplied the GPUs through his Alabama-based electronics company, the indictment states.
Messages to Bitworks, the company Raymond lists on his LinkedIn were not returned. Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment.
Each of the four is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years on the exports evasion, 10 years on the smuggling charges, and 20 years on each count of money laundering.
The arrests come as Nvidia has faced deteriorating business in China due to export rules. Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress reported on Wednesday that Nvidia has seen purchase orders dry up due to geopolitical issues, but also advocated for access to the Chinese market.
“While we were disappointed in the current state that prevents us from shipping more competitive data center compute products to China, we are committed to continued engagement with the U.S. and China governments and will continue to advocate for America’s ability to compete around the world,” Kress said on Wednesday during Nvidia’s third quarter earnings call.
