Feds charge 4 in plot to export restricted Nvidia chips to China, Hong Kong

Core Viewpoint - Four individuals have been indicted for attempting to illegally export Nvidia chips valued at millions of dollars to China and Hong Kong, violating U.S. export restrictions [1][2][3] Group 1: Indictment Details - The defendants are charged with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, specifically related to the export of Nvidia chips to China and Hong Kong after routing them through Malaysia and Thailand [2][3] - The indictment highlights that the chips involved, including Nvidia's A100 and H200 GPUs, are highly restricted due to their applications in artificial intelligence and supercomputing [3][4] - The alleged scheme began in September 2023, with the indictment filed on November 13 in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida [3][4] Group 2: Individuals Involved - Brian Curtis Raymond, identified as the chief technology officer of an AI cloud company, was involved in the conspiracy and had previously owned a technology products distributor licensed to sell Nvidia GPUs [5][9] - Mathew Ho, another defendant, acted as an intermediary for unlawful exports and submitted false documentation regarding the shipments [6][7] - The other defendants, Jing Chen and Cham Li, were also arrested and are charged with similar offenses, including conspiracy and violations of the Export Control Reform Act [11][12][13] Group 3: Financial Transactions - Raymond faces multiple charges, including seven counts of money laundering related to wire transfers exceeding $3.4 million from a Chinese company to his business [10] - Ho is charged with nine counts of money laundering connected to $4 million in wire transfers from a Chinese company to his and Raymond's businesses [12]