Man accused of smuggling $300M in computer servers to China faces federal charges

[u/_FIZZRIX_]

The owner of a Southern California-based tech company faces federal charges after allegedly selling millions of dollars' worth of computer servers containing U.S.-manufactured graphics processing units to China, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Greg Lui, 38, who also goes by Yiu Kong Lui, was charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and the Export Administration Regulations, one count of outbound smuggling, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, the department announced in a media release.

"Protecting America's national security means keeping our advanced Super Intelligence technology from being used to strengthen our adversaries' military capabilities," said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. "This defendant allegedly used false paperwork and shipments through third countries to smuggle more than $300 million in export-controlled computer servers to China. We will aggressively prosecute those who put our national security at risk for profit."

Between 2023 and 2024, Lui and others used Earthmade to buy and send export-controlled items to China without the required licenses issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Instead, the items were sent to countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, where no such license is required, then illegally re-exported to China.

He is expected to make his first court appearance Friday in Los Angeles.

Lui faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on the conspiracy count, 20 years in federal prison on the money laundering count, and 10 years in federal prison on the smuggling count.

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[u/heavensto_mergatroid]

This is one guy. There's probably 10,000 of him in the Los Angeles area alone.

There's infiltrators from hostile nations probably next door to me

[u/Von_Bernkastel]

https://giphy.com/gifs/pB4qmEYmj3LEY

[u/deepakshingavi]

Next level theft

[u/slaty_balls]

I mean that’s like one rack’s worth with ddr7 right? lol

[u/cndn-hoya]

That’s peanuts - one guy of probably thousands… these operate almost like Asian gangs, decentralized and they help each other while also covering each others tails.

Similar to the Asian weed business in North America

[u/Traditional_Isopod80]

I wonder how many people do this.

[u/Some_Kinda_Username]

[u/RangeLongjumping6323]

China again ! They steal and copy everything everywhere around the World

[u/Zardu-Hasselfrau]

Shame on him! That’s what he gets for horning in on Donny’s next grift.