By @ACSnewsfeed
Publication Date: 2026-03-30 13:45:00
Three men have been arrested after allegedly conspiring to smuggle hundreds of export-controlled Nvidia artificial intelligence chips from the United States to China.
On Wednesday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the alleged scheme involved two US citizens: 49-year-old Matthew Kelly and 53-year-old Tommy English.
The men allegedly began conspiring to smuggle the chips after making contact with 56-year-old Chinese national Stanley Yi Zheng in May 2023.
According to criminal complaints cited by the DOJ, the trio attempted to purchase “computer servers containing export-controlled computer chips” from a California-based computer hardware company as part of the alleged scheme.
The men then allegedly attempted to ship the chips to China through pass-through companies in Thailand, in direct violation of U.S. export controls.
“Zheng, Kelly and English allegedly conspired to sell millions of dollars worth of U.S.-made AI computer chips to buyers in…
