Story perspectives

Prosecutors Arrest Greg Lui Over $300M Nvidia Smuggling

By Drooid · Oct 4, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Federal prosecutors arrested entrepreneur Greg Lui in Los Angeles, charging him with smuggling AI hardware to China.
Prosecutors allege Lui used false paperwork to transship $300 million of Nvidia servers through Malaysia and Singapore.
Lui reportedly received more than $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipping firms between January and October 2024.
If convicted on all counts, Lui faces a maximum sentence of up to 50 years in federal prison.

History

Historical Context

In 2000, Cray Inc. paid a $1.5 billion penalty to the U.S. Department of Commerce for illegally exporting supercomputers to China during President Bill Clinton’s crackdown. The Commerce Department later increased fines by 30 percent in 2005, reaching $2.0 billion in total penalties that year across all violations. Today, federal prosecutors allege entrepreneur Greg Lui used falsified paperwork to ship $300 million of Nvidia servers through Malaysia and Singapore, echoing Cray’s illicit China transfers. The parallel underscores renewed U.S. enforcement of export controls to safeguard AI technology, prompting stricter licensing and heightened scrutiny of global supply chains.

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Story summary

Federal prosecutors arrested entrepreneur Greg Lui in Los Angeles, charging him with smuggling AI hardware to China.
Prosecutors allege Lui used false paperwork to transship $300 million of Nvidia servers through Malaysia and Singapore.
Lui reportedly received more than $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipping firms between January and October 2024.
If convicted on all counts, Lui faces a maximum sentence of up to 50 years in federal prison.

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