Four people have been charged for allegedly conspiring to smuggle supercomputers and Nvidia chips into China
Text messages obtained by authorities show Lee bragging about how his father had engaged in similar actions on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, Stern said. Stern claimed the messages also show that Lee, who works for a hardware distribution company, was aware through news articles he shared that Nvidia chips were subject to export controls. “He explained that his father had ways of importing them,” Stern said, again citing Lee’s text messages.
Stern told the court that Lee “admitted to various facts” during questioning by federal agents on Wednesday that implicated him.
The defendants face various charges of violating export control laws and carry up to 20 years in prison.
He and Raymond did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent to LinkedIn accounts allegedly owned by them. Chen and Lee’s public defenders declined to comment.
Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo said in a statement that “even small sales of older generation products on the secondary market are subject to strict scrutiny and review” and that “trying to assemble data centers from bootlegged products is futile, both technically and economically.”
Corvex, an AI cloud computing company that Raymond consulted, said in a statement that it had rescinded its job offer to join the company full-time, and that it had nothing to do with the alleged wrongdoing.
Earlier this year, the US Commerce Department was reportedly considering restricting the sale of advanced chips to Malaysia and Thailand in an effort to curb chip smuggling, but regulations have not yet been finalized. The Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Judge Westmore ordered Lee to appoint a public defender because she said he had significant equity in a home and other assets in San Leandro, California, making him ineligible to appoint a public defender. The judge also scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to decide whether Lee poses a significant flight risk and should continue to be detained. He holds a US green card and Hong Kong citizenship.
Lee, who was wearing glasses, flip-flops and a black windbreaker, nodded in response to some of Westmore’s statements but did not speak. Kaitlyn Frizek, his interim public defender, said Lee plans to marry a U.S. citizen. “His motivation is to stay and marry his fiancée,” Frizek said.