Stern claimed that text messages discovered by the authorities showed Li bragging about his father “had engaged in similar business on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.” Stern alleged that Li who is employed by a hardware distributor was also aware of the export restrictions on Nvidia’s chips through articles which he had shared. “He explained that his father had ways to import them,” Stern mentioned Li’s texts again.
Stern told the court Li “did admit to various facts” When questioned by federal agents Wednesday, that he implicated.
The defendants could face up to 20-years in prison for various violations of export laws.
Ho and Raymond didn’t immediately reply to messages sent to LinkedIn profiles purporting to belong to them. Chen and Li’s public defenders declined to make any comments.
Nvidia’s John Rizzo, a spokesperson for the company, said that in a recent statement. “even small sales of older generation products on the secondary market are subject to strict scrutiny and review” And that “trying to cobble together datacenters from smuggled products is a nonstarter, both technically and economically.”
Corvex is an AI cloud computing company that Raymond worked for. In a press release, Corvex said that they had rescinded their offer to hire him full time and had no involvement in the allegations.
Earlier in the year the US Department of Commerce considered limiting the sale of advanced chip to Malaysia and Thailand to reduce the smuggling of chips. But the regulation has not yet been finalized. Commerce Department didn’t immediately reply to an inquiry for comments.
Li was ordered to hire a lawyer by Magistrate Westmore because she claimed he owned a home in San Leandro in California and had other assets. This made him ineligible for public representation. A hearing was also scheduled for Tuesday, to determine whether Li poses a flight risk that warrants his continued detention. He has a US Green Card and Hong Kong Citizenship.
Li, who was wearing sunglasses, flipflops and a windbreaker in black, did nod to Westmore’s comments but didn’t speak. Kaitlyn Fryzek said that Li plans to marry an American citizen. “His incentive is to stay and get married to his fiancée,” Fryzek said.
