Four individuals – two U.S. Citizens and two Chinese nationals residing in the United States – have been charged with conspiring to illegally export advanced NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) to the People’s Republic of China, the Department of Justice announced on November 20, 2025. The alleged scheme involved falsifying paperwork and creating fake contracts to circumvent U.S. Export controls.
Those charged include Hon Ning Ho, 34, of Tampa, Florida; Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, of Huntsville, Alabama; Cham Li, 38, of San Leandro, California; and Jing Chen, 45, of Tampa, Florida. Ho and Chen were arrested on November 19, 2025, and appeared in court in the Middle District of Florida. Raymond was arrested and appeared in the Northern District of Alabama. Li was arrested and is scheduled to appear in the Northern District of California.
According to the Justice Department, the individuals conspired to export cutting-edge NVIDIA GPUs, which have applications in artificial intelligence, to China. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg for the National Security Division stated that the indictment reveals a “deliberate and deceptive effort to transship controlled NVIDIA GPUs to China.”
The scheme allegedly involved relabeling the Nvidia chips as “SANDKYAN” to evade U.S. Export controls, according to the Department of Justice. The chips included Nvidia H100s, which are particularly valuable for training large language models and other AI applications.
Federal authorities allege that Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang, operating through their El Monte, California-based company ALX Solutions, exported the chips from October 2022 through July 2025 without the necessary licenses from the U.S. Commerce Department. ALX Solutions was founded in 2022, shortly after the U.S. Imposed sweeping export controls on technology to China. Over 20 shipments from ALX were routed through shipping and freight forwarding companies in Singapore and Malaysia, commonly used as transshipment points for illicit goods destined for China.
The company received a $1 million payment from a China-based entity in January 2024, and additional payments from companies in Hong Kong and China, rather than from the freight forwarding companies, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida emphasized the commitment to disrupting black markets for sensitive U.S. Technologies and holding those involved accountable.
The Department of Justice has not yet commented on whether further arrests are anticipated or if the investigation is expanding to include other individuals or entities. The case remains ongoing, with court dates scheduled for all four defendants.
