Cyber — 2026-10-04

California Tech Company Owner Arrested for Smuggling Over 300 Million in GPU Servers to China via Malaysia and Singapore

BLUFProsecuting a $300 million GPU diversion chain through Southeast Asia signals DOJ intent to make transshipment intermediaries, not just exporters, bear criminal risk for chip controls evasion.

Federal agents arrested Greg Lui, 38, of San Gabriel, California, on October 1 on a three-count indictment returned September 29, charging conspiracy to violate export control law, outbound smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to DOJ and U.S. Attorney's Office releases 12. The indictment alleges Lui, who owns City of Industry-based Earthmade Computer Inc., used false end-user documentation to buy GPU servers valued at more than $300 million and ship them in 2023 and 2024 to Malaysia and Singapore, then to China 12. It alleges Earthmade received more than $176 million from two Malaysian shipping firms between January and October 2024 1. One cited example is a January 2024 order of 27 servers for about $7.6 million, shipped from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur, which a co-conspirator reportedly told a Malaysian official in March had gone to a China-based buyer 2. Bloomberg and The Register reported the charges and identified the chips as Nvidia's 34.

Analysis
Nvidia-class server diversion through Malaysia and Singapore remains a live enforcement target, and the indictment gives prosecutors a documented transshipment chain to build on. Everything traces to one primary source, the Central District of California U.S. Attorney's Office. The DOJ national release, Bloomberg, and The Register add no independent confirmation. The named co-conspirators and Malaysian payers of more than $176 million are a ready target list, yet no docket schedule or charging indicator shows follow-on cases are coming. The case may instead be a narrow prosecution of one dealer whose false paperwork was unusually well documented, not a shift toward pursuing Southeast Asian networks. If co-conspirators or the Malaysian shippers are charged, compliance officers at U.S. server makers and freight forwarders would tighten end-user checks on regional orders. Absent such charges, scrutiny stays on this defendant.

4 sources

California Man Arrested for Smuggling More Than $300 Million in Export-Controlled Computer Servers to China - DOJ
San Gabriel Man Arrested on Federal Charges Alleging He Smuggled to China More Than $300 Million - U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California (DOJ)
Man Charged With Illegally Shipping Nvidia Chips to China - Bloomberg
Californian accused of shipping $300M worth of Nvidia chips to China without Uncle Sam's approval - The Register