Two Americans and two Chinese nationals face federal charges for allegedly smuggling advanced Nvidia AI chips to China. According to Fox Business, prosecutors say the group used a Tampa-based company called Janford Realtor LLC as a front to hide shipments of restricted processors bound for China.
Real Estate Company Used as Cover
The Department of Justice announced the charges on November 20, 2025. The four defendants are Hon Ning „Mathew“ Ho, 34, of Tampa; Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, of Huntsville, Alabama; Cham „Tony“ Li, 38, of San Leandro, California; and Jing „Harry“ Chen, 45, of Tampa. All face multiple counts, including conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, smuggling and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege Janford Realtor never conducted any real estate business. Instead, the company existed only to purchase and export Nvidia GPUs. The group allegedly conspired from September 2023 through November 2025 to ship the chips through Malaysia and Thailand to avoid U.S. export controls.
Falsified Documents and Fake Contracts
Investigators said the defendants falsified documents and created fake contracts. They misled authorities about where the technology was headed. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg said the group made a deliberate effort to hide the true destination of the chips.
Shipments Worth Millions Intercepted
The conspiracy involved four separate exports. The first two shipments, sent between October 2024 and January 2025, included roughly 400 Nvidia A100 processors. Law enforcement stopped two additional shipments before completion. Those included 10 Hewlett Packard Enterprise supercomputers with Nvidia H100 GPUs and 50 separate H200 GPUs.
Investigators said the defendants received more than $3.8 million in wire transfers from China to fund the operation. None obtained the required licenses to export the technology. Authorities said they knowingly lied about the processors‘ final destination.
The indictment noted that China seeks to become the world leader in AI by 2030. The country aims to use AI for military modernization, including the design and testing of weapons of mass destruction. China is pursuing cutting-edge U.S. technology in furtherance of that goal, including Nvidia GPUs.
U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe said his office is committed to protecting national security. He thanked law enforcement partners for their investigative work.
