Two residents of the Los Angeles County face federal charges after they were arrested on suspicion of illegally exporting tens of millions of dollars in artificial intelligence microchips to China, authorities said.
Chuan Geng, 28, from Pasadena; and Shiwei Yang, 28, from El Monte, were arrested on Saturday for their alleged participation in the illegal export of processing units abroad used in modern applications of artificial computer science and intelligence, according to a statement of the United States Prosecutor's Office for the Eastern District of California.
Federal prosecutors said both were Chinese citizens, although Geng is a permanent legal resident of the United States Yang, however, he was illegally in the country, since he had overcome his visa, according to the authorities.
In a criminal complaint, the officials of the United States Department of Justice alleged that the couple had “knowingly and voluntarily” undermined federal export regulations to hide illegal shipments to China for almost three years.
Prosecutors say that Gengh and Yang possessed and operated a technology company based on the mountain called Alx Solutions Inc. The company specialized in providing high -power central and graphic processing units for individuals and companies, according to commercial records and commercial records Your website.
The business also had high performance microchips capable of being used in the development of artificial intelligence technology, as in autonomous cars and medical diagnostic systems, authorities said.
Prosecutors allege that shortly after the United States Department of Commerce began to require a license or authorization to export these “sensitive technologies” abroad, ALX Solutions was involved in at least 20 shipments of files without a license or poorly labeled China through third -party countries.
“Alx Solutions shipments involved US exports. UU. To shipping and cargo companies in Singapore and Malaysia, which are commonly used as transford points to hide illegal shipments to China,” said the United States prosecutor's office in his statement.
Prosecutors said that a review of the export and business records showed that the company received numerous payments of companies in Hong Kong and China, which were not the declared entities that had sold their products. Geng and Yang were also accused of falsely labeling graphics processing units, or GPU, as licensed, although they have not requested or obtained a license from the commercial department in multiple shipments.
Last week, the police confiscated two phones belonging to Gengh and Yang of the Alx Solutions office that supposedly revealed “incriminatory” communications regarding shipping chips through Malaysia to evade export laws, according to the office of the United States prosecutor.
Geng and Yang are accused of violating the Export Control Reform LawA 2018 law that strengthened federal controls with respect to the export of “emerging and fundamental technologies.” Violations can carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in a federal prison.
On Monday, a judge of the United States District Court ordered that Geng was released with a bail of $ 250,000 and scheduled a detention hearing for Yang on August 12. Neither of them filed a statement on Monday.
The FBI and the Office of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce continue to investigate, authorities said. Reading charges for both of them is scheduled for September 11.
