US prosecutors arrested the owner of a California technology company on 1 October and charged him with smuggling more than $300 million worth of export-controlled computer servers to China, the Justice Department said [1].
Greg Lui, 38, of San Gabriel, owns Earthmade Computer Inc. He is charged with conspiracy to violate export-control law, outbound smuggling and conspiracy to commit money laundering, under an indictment returned on 29 September [1].
What it covers
The servers contained graphics processors (GPUs) made by US companies. The indictment says Lui and others shipped them to Malaysia and Singapore, where no licence is needed, then re-exported them to China, giving US manufacturers false documents about where they were going [1].
From January to October 2024, Earthmade received more than $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipment companies, prosecutors say [1].
In one example they cite, Lui ordered 27 such servers for about $7,614,000 in January 2024, and they were later reported transshipped to a buyer in China [1].
The conspiracy and money-laundering counts each carry up to 20 years in prison, and smuggling up to 10 [1].
What it does not tell you
Whether the charges are true. "An indictment is merely an allegation," the department says; the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty [1].
Which manufacturers' servers were involved, or who in China bought them. The release names neither [1].
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