TAMPA, Fla. – A Tampa-based business named “Janford Realtor, LLC” never listed a home or closed a sale. Instead, federal prosecutors say the company was merely a shell used to funnel restricted, high-powered NVIDIA computer chips to China.
On Wednesday, federal authorities unsealed charges against four men—two U.S. citizens and two Chinese nationals—accused of conspiring to bypass strict export controls. The indictment alleges the group moved nearly $3.9 million worth of advanced technology through intermediaries in Southeast Asia to aid China’s artificial intelligence and military ambitions.
The operation, which authorities say ran from September 2023 through this month, spanned the United States. Arrests were made in Florida, Alabama, and California.
Those charged include Hon Ning Ho (also known as Mathew Ho), 34, a U.S. citizen living in Tampa; Jing Chen (Harry Chen), 45, a Chinese national in Tampa on a student visa; Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, of Huntsville, Alabama; and Cham Li (Tony Li), 38, a Chinese national residing in San Leandro, California.
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Ho and Chen were arrested on Wednesday and appeared in federal court in the Middle District of Florida. Raymond appeared in the Northern District of Alabama, while Li was scheduled for a court appearance in Northern California today.
From Real Estate to GPUs
According to the indictment, the conspiracy revolved around obtaining NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), specifically the A100, H100, and H200 models. These chips are considered the industry standard for training large artificial intelligence models and are subject to heavy export restrictions imposed by the Department of Commerce in October 2022 to protect U.S. national security.
Prosecutors allege that Ho and Li controlled Janford Realtor, LLC, using the entity to purchase the hardware while masking the true destination. Raymond, operating through an electronics company based in Alabama, reportedly supplied the GPUs to the Florida group.
To evade detection, the group allegedly falsified shipping documents, claiming the technology was destined for Malaysia and Thailand rather than its true end-point in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
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Disrupted Shipments
The indictment details four specific export attempts. Between October 2024 and January 2025, the group allegedly succeeded in shipping 400 NVIDIA A100 GPUs to China.
However, law enforcement intercepted the third and fourth shipments before they could leave U.S. custody. These seized shipments reportedly contained massive computing power, including ten Hewlett Packard Enterprise supercomputers equipped with NVIDIA H100 chips and a separate batch of 50 NVIDIA H200 GPUs.
Court documents state the conspirators received approximately $3.89 million in wire transfers from Chinese sources to fund the purchases.
National Security Concerns
U.S. officials emphasized that these restrictions are not about trade economics, but military capabilities. The indictment notes that the PRC has set a goal to become the global leader in AI by 2030, intending to use the technology for military modernization, the design of weapons of mass destruction, and advanced surveillance systems.
“As demonstrated by this indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida is firmly committed to safeguarding our country’s national security,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe. “Thanks to the dedicated investigative work by our law enforcement partners, these defendants who wrongfully exported this sensitive technology are facing justice.”
None of the defendants had obtained the required licenses to export the hardware to China.
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