2 Americans, 2 Chinese nationals charged in alleged Nvidia chip-smuggling plot

Two Americans and two Chinese nationals have been charged with secretly transporting Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips to China, a plot that prosecutors say threatened U.S. national security and violated strict export controls.

The Department of Justice said in a press release that Hunning “Matthew” Ho, 34, is a US citizen born in Hong Kong and living in Tampa, Florida; Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, of Huntsville, Alabama; Cham “Tony” Li, 38, a Chinese national living in San Leandro, California; Jing “Harry” Chen, 45, a Chinese national living in Tampa on a student visa, faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, smuggling and money laundering.

“The indictment unsealed yesterday alleges a deliberate and misleading effort to move controlled Nvidia GPUs to China by forging paperwork, creating false contracts, and misleading U.S. authorities,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said.

“The Department of Homeland Security is committed to disrupting this type of black market for sensitive U.S. technologies and holding accountable those who participate in this illicit trade.”

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Prosecutors allege the defendants used a Tampa-based company called Janford Realtor LLC as a front to purchase and export restricted Nvidia GPUs.

Despite its name, Janford Realtor has never been involved in any real estate business and was allegedly set up to hide shipments of high-end processors destined for China.

The indictment states that the group conspired from September 2023 through November 2025 to illegally export advanced chips through third countries, including Malaysia and Thailand, to avoid U.S. export controls.

Investigators said the defendants forged documents, created fake contracts and misled authorities about the final destination of the technology.

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Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia Corp, discusses the functionality of Nvidia’s chips with the use of artificial intelligence. (Annabelle Cheh/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

The conspiracy allegedly involved four separate exports of Nvidia GPUs to China. The first two shipments, sent between October 2024 and January 2025, included approximately 400 Nvidia A100 processors.

law enforcement disrupted two additional shipments before completion, which included 10 Hewlett Packard Enterprise supercomputers containing Nvidia H100 GPUs and 50 H200 discrete GPUs.

Investigators said the defendants received more than $3.8 million in wire transfers from China to finance the operation.

None of the defendants obtained the licenses required to export the technology, and authorities said they intentionally lied about the final destination of the processors to evade U.S. export laws.

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The Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C (Stephanie Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

The indictment noted that the People’s Republic of China seeks to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 and aims to use artificial intelligence in military modernization, including the design and testing of weapons of mass destruction.

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The indictment also alleged that the PRC is seeking cutting-edge U.S. technology to advance this goal, including Nvidia graphics processing units.

“As evidenced by this indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida is deeply committed to protecting our country’s national security,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe. “Thanks to the dedicated investigative work of our law enforcement partners, these defendants who wrongly exported this sensitive technology face justice.”