The
U.S. Justice Department released the information below:
Two
U.S. citizens and two nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—all
residing in the United States—have been charged with a conspiracy to illegally
export cutting-edge NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), which have
artificial intelligence (AI) applications, to the PRC, announced Assistant
Attorney General John A. Eisenberg for the Justice Department’s National
Security Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of
Florida.
Those arrested include Hon Ning Ho, aka “Mathew Ho,” a U.S.
citizen born in Hong Kong, 34, residing in Tampa, Florida; Brian Curtis
Raymond, U.S. citizen, 46, Huntsville, Alabama; Cham Li, aka “Tony Li,” PRC
national, 38, San Leandro, California, and Jing Chen, aka “Harry Chen,” PRC
national on F-1 nonimmigrant student visa, 45, Tampa, Florida. On
Wednesday, November 19, 2025, Ho and Chen were arrested and appeared in court
in the Middle District of Florida, while Raymond was arrested and appeared in
the Northern District of Alabama. Li was also arrested yesterday and is
scheduled to appear today in the Northern District of California.
“The indictment unsealed yesterday alleges a deliberate and
deceptive effort to transship controlled NVIDIA GPUs to China by falsifying
paperwork, creating fake contracts, and misleading U.S. authorities,” said John
A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “The National
Security Division is committed to disrupting these kinds of black markets of
sensitive U.S. technologies and holding accountable those who participate in
this illicit trade.”
“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. “Thanks to the dedicated investigative work
by our law enforcement partners, these defendants who wrongfully exported this
sensitive technology are facing justice.”
According to the indictment, the PRC seeks to become the world
leader in AI by 2030 and seeks to use AI for its military modernization efforts
and in connection with the design and testing of weapons of mass destruction
and deployment of advanced AI surveillance tools. The PRC seeks cutting-edge
U.S. technology in furtherance of that goal, including NVIDIA GPUs. To protect
U.S. national security, beginning in October 2022, the Department of Commerce
implemented new license requirements for the export of these technologies to
the PRC.
As alleged, from September 2023 to November 2025, Ho, Raymond,
Li, and Chen conspired to violate these critical U.S. export controls, by
illegally exporting advanced GPUs to the PRC through Malaysia and Thailand. In
furtherance of the conspiracy, the conspirators used Janford Realtor, LLC—a
Tampa, Florida-based company owned and controlled by Ho and Li—as a front to
purchase and then illegally export controlled GPUs to the PRC. Despite its
name, Janford Realtor, LLC, was never involved in any real estate transactions.
Raymond, though his Alabama-based electronics company, supplied NVIDIA GPUs to
Ho and others for illegal export to the PRC as part of the conspiracy.
As further alleged in the indictment, the conspiracy encompassed
four separate exports of NVIDIA GPUs to the PRC. The first and second exports
resulted in 400 NVIDIA A100 GPUs being exported to the PRC between October 2024
and January 2025. The third and fourth exports to the PRC were disrupted
by law enforcement and therefore not completed. These attempted exports related
to ten Hewlett Packard Enterprises supercomputers containing NVIDIA H100 GPUs
and 50 separate NVIDIA H200 GPUs.
Despite knowing that licenses were required to export these
items to the PRC, none of the conspirators ever sought or obtained a license
for any of these exports. Instead, they lied about the intended destination of
the GPUs to evade U.S. export controls. The indictment further alleges that the
conspirators received over $3.89 million in wire transfers from the PRC to fund
this unlawful scheme.
As set forth in the indictment, the United States will also seek forfeiture of 50 NVIDIA H200 GPUs, which are property constituting an item or technology that was intended to be exported unlawfully.
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