3 men charged with fraud, cases linked to alleged movement of Nvidia chips from Singapore to China

SINGAPORE: Three men were on Thursday (Feb 27) charged with fraud after authorities raided 22 locations the day before.

CNA understands the cases are linked to the alleged movement of Nvidia chips from Singapore to be used by Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek.

The three were among nine people arrested during raids by the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Customs. Documentary and electronic records were seized.

Two Singaporeans – Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49 – were charged with criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on a supplier of servers.

They allegedly made false representations in 2024 that the items would not be transferred to a person other than the “authorised ultimate consignee of end users”, charge sheets stated.

Chinese national Li Ming, 51, was charged with committing fraud by false representation.

According to charge sheets, he allegedly claimed in 2023 that the end user of the items would be a company called Luxuriate Your Life.

NVIDIA CHIPS

The raids in Singapore come on the back of media reports that said intermediaries in the country were involved in the illegal movement of Nvidia chips to China, bypassing US export controls. 

The US Commerce Department had reportedly been looking into whether DeepSeek – the Chinese company whose artificial intelligence (AI) model rocked the tech world – has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China.

On Feb 1, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said it expects US companies in the country to adhere to both US and Singapore laws.

Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said in parliament on Feb 18 that Singapore does not condone businesses deliberately using their association with the country to circumvent or violate export controls of other nations.

While Singapore does not have legal obligations to enforce the unilateral export controls of other countries, it expects all companies operating in Singapore to take into account such regulations if applicable, said Dr Tan.

The offence of fraud by false representation carries a jail term of up to 20 years, a fine, or both.

Police investigations are ongoing against the other people arrested and the companies.

Singapore Customs is investigating if offences under the Customs Act and the Regulation of Imports & Exports Act have been committed.