Two Chinese nationals in California accused of illegally shipping Nvidia AI chips to China
Chuan Geng, 28, of Pasadena, and Shiwei Yang, 28, of El Monte, exported the advanced Nvidia chips and other technology to China from October 2022 through July 2025 without obtaining the required licenses from the U.S. Commerce Department, a criminal complaint says.
According to the complaint, Geng and Yang's El Monte-based company, ALX Solutions Inc, was founded in 2022, shortly after the U.S. imposed sweeping export controls on technology to China and began to require licenses for the chips.
A spokesperson for Nvidia declined comment.
Over 20 shipments from ALX solutions went to shipping and freight forwarding companies in Singapore and Malaysia, which are often used as transshipment points for illegal goods to China.
ALX received a $1 million payment from a China-based company in January 2024 and other payments from companies in Hong Kong and China, not the freight forwarding companies.
Nvidia H100s are advanced chips that can be used to train large language models and for other applications, such as developing self-driving cars and medical diagnosis systems.
Records show that from at least August 2023 to July 2024, ALX Solutions bought over 200 Nvidia H100 chips from San Jose, Calif-based server maker Super Micro Computer, declaring that the end users were in Singapore and Japan.
Super Micro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In addition to Nvidia's H100s, the pair are accused of illegally shipping Nvidia video graphics cards known as PNY GE Force RTX 4090, which also require a license for export to China.
Geng and Yang appeared in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles late Monday, according to the Justice Department. Geng, a permanent resident, was released on $250,000 bond. Yang, who overstayed her visa, has a detention hearing on August 12.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
UCLA could be next college to knuckle under to Trump over antisemitism claims with $584m on the line
The University of California system will negotiate to restore the more than $300 million in federal research funding the Trump administration suspended last week, the latest step in a closely watched back-and-forth after the White House accused the University of California, Los Angeles of failing to crack down on campus antisemitism. UC president James Milliken said in a statement on Wednesday that leaders would work to protect access to $584 million in suspended and threatened funds, calling the loss of these federal dollars the 'death knell for innovative work that saves lives, grows our economy, and fortifies our national security,' while arguing the Trump administration's cuts 'do nothing to address antisemitism.' Some on campus criticized the move to negotiate with the administration over the allegations. 'We have to fight for what we believe in,' UCLA political science professor Michael Chwe, a board member of the UCLA Faculty Association, told The Wall Street Journal. 'Negotiating with such a malicious, bad-faith actor only legitimizes what they're asking for.' In a July 29 letter to the UC president's office, the Justice Department its ongoing investigation of the UC system had revealed UCLA had been 'deliberately indifferent to a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students' during 2024 campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. The DOJ cited examples of students who said they faced violent harassment or were kept from crossing areas on campus for being Jewish. The letter had given the school until Tuesday to seek voluntary resolution, or UCLA would face a federal lawsuit in early September. The letter did not mention perhaps the single most violent event of those protests, in which a group of masked pro-Israel vigilantes attacked encampment protesters with blunt objects as campus and Los Angeles police stood by for hours, only intervening once many of the assailants had fled. Last month, UCLA announced it had settled a lawsuit over campus antisemitism claims in part by donating over $2 million to campus and community Jewish organizations. The school, like many universities engaged by Trump, reformed campus discipline and anti-hate training in the wake of the 2024 protests. Leaders across the state and country are holding their breath over the UC case, which marks the first time the Trump administration is suspending hundreds of millions of dollars from after a large, non-Ivy public university. Previously, its efforts have concentrated mostly on private Ivy League schools like Columbia and Brown, both of which eventually agreed to multi-million dollar payments and various campus reforms to restore their funding. Harvard, meanwhile, has challenged the administration in court over the suspended funds. .
Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Aubrey Plaza's new biopic role as Heidi Fleiss leads Hollywood madam to break her silence to warn the star
Aubrey Plaza 's fans were surprised on Wednesday to learn that the White Lotus actress had been tapped to portray the infamous Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss in an upcoming biopic. And now Fleiss, 59, is speaking out about the 41-year-old actress' plans to play her in The Heidi Fleiss Story. The former madam told the Daily Mail she was 'pleasantly shocked' that the Parks And Recreation actress will be playing her in the biopic. 'It sounds fantastic,' Fleiss said on Wednesday. 'I've never met her and never even heard about it, but wow!' But she also shared a note of caution for Plaza in the wake of her legal and reputational setbacks. 'She's got her work cut out for her,' Fleiss said. 'You know, I hate to have to live with me, and now she has to play me.' However, Fleiss added: 'She's going to be great.' Fleiss has been open about her early career, in which she briefly worked as a prostitute. After she was mentored by another madam running a prostitution ring in Beverly Hills, Fleiss went solo in 1990 and launched her own prostitution ring catering to wealthy clients in Hollywood. But the organization was short-lived, as Fleiss was arrested in 1993 on charges of pandering, tax evasion, and money laundering after prosecutors accused her of laundering $1.5 million through a series of shell companies with falsified records. She was eventually convicted of federal tax evasion charges in 1996. She was sentenced to seven years in prison, but only served 20 months of her sentence at a federal correctional institution before she was released to a halfway house, where she began the rest of her sentence, which included a requirement to complete 370 hours of community service. When asked what advice she would give to Plaza, Fleiss said: 'You know what? I'm confused by the things that I do, so I don't know how to give anyone advice.' Plaza will be stepping into the role after acclaimed turns in season two of HBO's The White Lotus, as well as the crime drama Emily The Criminal and the coming-of-age dramedy My Old Ass. She shared a note of caution for Plaza. 'She's got her work cut out for her,' Fleiss said. 'You know, I hate to have to live with me, and now she has to play me'; pictured on Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2010 Plaza will next be seen in the crime comedy Honey Don't!, which is written and directed by Ethan Coen and co-written with his wife Tricia Cooke. The actress spent time out of the spotlight earlier this year after her husband, the filmmaker Jeff Baena, died by suicide. She made her first public appearance after the tragedy by briefly appearing on the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special in February, during which she donned a tie-dye shirt as a tribute to her late husband, as it was similar to the tie-dye shirts they wore at their wedding in 2021. Fleiss also gave Daily Mail an update on several projects she's working on, including a new site and app for content creators that she hopes will rival OnlyFans. It's called The List by Heidi Fleiss, and the former madam is already in talks with web developers to create it. 'OnlyFans take 20 percent of what these creators make, and very few are making money because they take so much,' Fleiss said. 'Most of them aren't making $3 million a month — they make $2,000. Creators should have more control of the money they make from their content. The List will be more favorable for the creators.' Fleiss, who lives in Pahrump, Nevada, says her priority remains on taking care of her precious birds and continuing her rescue efforts. She currently has between 30 to 40 Macaws and smaller parrots, many of which had been neglected by prior owners or breeders, and she hopes her efforts to care for them can counteract negative forces in society. 'Humanity has had one purpose, and that is to destroy everything as quickly as possible. That's our only purpose,' Fleiss claimed. 'That's how I truly see humanity, and I've always been misanthropic. But with these birds, it's so much more.' Since her release, Fleiss has been open about her past work running a prostitution ring, though she has largely stayed mum about the identities of her high-powered former clients, even as some of their identities were hinted at during her salacious trial. In 2010 she made a foray into mainstream television when she appeared on the UK's Celebrity Big Brother. In recent years, Fleiss has been the owner and manager of a private airport in Pahrump that caters only to small aircrafts. But the former Hollywood madam is also stepping back into the entertainment industry by filming a documentary directed by Andrew Renzi, who was a producer on the HBO reality series Paul American, which delves into the exploits of brothers Jake and Logan Paul.
Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Cops make disturbing find outside Grateful Dead's 60th anniversary concert in San Francisco
San Francisco police made a disturbing discovery over the weekend, just outside a concert series marking the Grateful Dead's 60th anniversary. Police say they were patrolling the area of Fulton Street and 35th Avenue outside of the famed Golden Gate Park on Saturday, when they came upon an 'illuminated open trailer' with a man inside at around 11pm. As the officers got closer, they could see numerous tanks inside the vehicle. They believed the tanks may have been filled with nitrous oxide, and arrested 32-year-old Thomas Siderio, of Philadelphia, at the scene. As he was taken into custody, officers also seized about 100 metal tanks as well as numerous balloons they say point to Siderio's plan to ingest the laughing gas, and towed his vehicle. Siderio was then booked into the San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of distributing nitrous oxide and on suspicion of possessing nitrous oxide with the intent for intoxication. The substance, also commonly referred to as laughing gas, produces a feeling of relaxation, laughter and dizziness. It is typically used as a sedative at dentists offices, but is also frequently used at parties and concerts for its euphoric and hallucinogenic effects, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. While the gas is approved for use in medical settings and as a food additive for aerosol spray in products such as whipped cream, it is criminalized for recreational purposes - as its overuse can cause suffocation and death. 'Our officers will continue to patrol all areas of Golden Gate Park and the surrounding neighborhood,' police said in a statement. 'SFPD is dedicated to keeping everyone safe and will continue to ensure concertgoers have a safe time while in our city.' The 60th anniversary concert series was meant to provide a boon to the local economy, KRON reports. 'When we make space for creativity and celebration, the whole city benefits,' Mayor Daniel Lurie said at a news conference ahead of the weekend's festivities. He added that small businesses in the area had 'already seen a noticeable increase in foot traffic and fans come to the historic neighborhood.'
