Arrest and Charges
On October 1, 2026, federal prosecutors arrested Greg Lui (38, also known as Yiu Kong Lui), owner of Earthmade Computer Inc. in the City of Industry, California. He is accused of illegally shipping export-controlled computer servers worth more than $300 million to China. The servers were equipped with Nvidia A100 and H100 graphics processors designed for artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
Greg Lui is a 38-year-old entrepreneur listed as the owner of Earthmade Computer Inc. He is also known as Yiu Kong Lui. The arrest was carried out on Thursday, October 1, by federal prosecutors; the case details rely on an official statement from the U.S. Department of Justice issued the same day.
The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury on September 29, 2026. It lists three counts: conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and the Export Administration Regulations; smuggling abroad; and conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to Bloomberg Law, the charges against Lui are the latest in a series of federal cases against individuals suspected of violating export controls aimed at keeping advanced U.S. chips out of China.
The Three Counts
The first count is conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and the Export Administration Regulations. Prosecutors allege that Lui and unnamed co-conspirators agreed on a plan to deliver controlled equipment to China without the required licenses and carried out that plan during 2023–2024.
The second count is smuggling abroad. It charges the removal of equipment from U.S. territory outside the legal process. Prosecutors cite the discrepancy between the address shown in the documents and the cargo's actual destination as the key evidence.
The third count is conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to the indictment, an agreement to legitimize funds obtained through the scheme also formed a basis for criminal liability.
All three counts are being tried as a single case: prosecutors present the purchase of servers, their routing through third countries, and the movement of the proceeds as an interconnected chain of actions.
Scheme Mechanics: The 27-Server Deal
Prosecutors allege the scheme rested on falsified documents. In 2023–2024, Lui and unnamed associates bought export-controlled servers from U.S. manufacturers; the purchase documents listed Malaysia and Singapore as the final destination. In reality, the equipment was redirected to China without the mandatory licenses from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Such a license is mandatory for delivering controlled equipment to China; prosecutors allege the defendants used falsified documents precisely to evade that requirement.
The indictment cites a specific deal that reveals the mechanics. In January 2024, Lui submitted a purchase order to a U.S. manufacturer for 27 servers equipped with Nvidia H100 chips, worth about $7.6 million. The cargo was shipped from Los Angeles County to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and was later handed over to a customer in China. Prosecutors allege that a chain of such deals delivered equipment worth more than $300 million to China.
Money Flow and Independent Confirmation
According to prosecutors' calculations cited by the U.S. Department of Justice, between January and October 2024 Earthmade received more than $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipping companies said to be linked to the scheme. The indictment cites that sum as evidence of the scheme's scale and the direction of the money flow.
Bloomberg Law independently confirmed the arrest. The outlet's October 2 report says that in 2023–2024 Lui worked with unnamed associates to ship servers with restricted Nvidia AI chips to buyers in China without the required licenses. Ars Technica writes that the case details rely on the Justice Department's official October 1 statement.
Expected Punishment
In the Justice Department's October 1 statement, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli described the essence of the case as follows:
"This defendant is suspected of smuggling more than $300 million worth of export-controlled computer servers into China, using falsified documents and shipments through third countries," said Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, in the U.S. Department of Justice's official October 1 statement.
If convicted on all three counts, Lui faces up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy and money laundering counts and up to 10 years on the smuggling count.
