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Three Chinese nationals and one American were accused of smuggling Nvidia and HP products to China in charges unsealed by the Justice Department Thursday (November 20) morning, ABC News reports.
Hon Ning Ho, Brian Raymond, Cham Li and Jing Chen were all alleged to be involved in a scheme to send the chips to Thailand and Malaysia, which served as third party countries, before they were shipped to China, having set up a shell company to purchase the products. The suspects also allegedly discussed ways to "evade United States export laws and regulations," according to the Justice Department.
The men allegedly received "kickbacks" for their alleged smuggling, which totaled hundreds of chips sent to China. The documents were unsealed eight days after a citizen of the People's Republic of China pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling a biological pathogen into the U.S. lying about it to FBI agents, according to a press release.
Yunqing Jian, 33, was sentenced to time-served in connection with allegations that she and her co-defendant, Zunyong Liu, smuggled a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. The fungus is reported to cause "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice and leads to billions in global economic financial losses annually.