Stern said text messages obtained by authorities show Li boasting about how his father “had engaged in similar business on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.” Stern alleged the messages also show Li, who works at a hardware distribution company, was aware through news articles he shared that the Nvidia chips were subject to export controls. “He explained that his father had ways to import them,” Stern said, again citing Li’s text messages.

Stern told the court that Li “did admit to various facts” during questioning by federal agents on Wednesday that implicated him.

The defendants face various charges related to violating export control laws and up to 20 years in prison.

Ho and Raymond did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent to LinkedIn accounts purportedly belonging to them. Public defenders for Chen and Li declined to comment.

Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo said in a statement that “even small sales of older generation products on the secondary market are subject to strict scrutiny and review” and that “trying to cobble together datacenters from smuggled products is a nonstarter, both technically and economically.”

Corvex, an AI cloud computing business Raymond consulted for, said in a statement that it had rescinded a job offer for him to join the company full-time and that it had no connection to the alleged wrongdoing.

Earlier this year, the US Department of Commerce was reportedly considering restricting the sale of advanced chips to Malaysia and Thailand in an effort to curb chip smuggling, but the regulations have yet to be finalized. The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Magistrate Judge Westmore ordered Li to hire an attorney because she said he had significant equity in a San Leandro, California, home and other assets, making him ineligible for a public defender. The magistrate also set a hearing for Tuesday to decide whether Li is a significant flight risk and should continue to be detained. He holds a US green card and Hong Kong citizenship.

Li, wearing glasses, flipflops, and a black windbreaker, nodded in response to some of Westmore’s statements but did not speak. Kaitlyn Fryzek, his temporary public defender, said Li is planning to marry a US citizen. “His incentive is to stay and get married to his fiancée,” Fryzek said.

On the hunt for a lightweight and budget-friendly laptop that won’t let you down? Best Buy has the Asus Zenbook A14 discounted from its usual $1,000 price point to just $550 for an early Black Friday deal. This featherweight laptop is a Windows Copilot+ PC, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus at its core, and is a great deal for students or occasionally putting in some hours from your local café.

Weighing in at just 2.1 pounds, this Zenbook is one of the lightest laptops we’ve tested to date, with most machines starting closer to 2.4, and only Lenovo’s Thinkpad X1 Carbon coming anywhere close at 2.2 pounds. That’s largely thanks to a material developed by Asus called Ceraluminum, a combination of ceramic and aluminum that’s both extremely light and very durable.

Like a lot of laptops in the Copilot+ range, the Zenbook sports an FHD+ (1920 x 1200) resolution screen, but it’s at least an OLED panel, which is great news for those of you who put your laptop on the coffee table to watch movies. Our reviewer Christopher Null ran a video playback test, and even with the screen at full brightness, the laptop managed to run for over 20 hours. That’s a truly impressive feat, particularly for a laptop so thin and light.

The heart of this machine is a Snapdragon X Plus from Qualcomm, a brand you might be more used to seeing in mobile phones than Windows machines. While it does help give you that awesome battery life, the performance leaves a bit to be desired. While it’s totally fine for web browsing, text documents, and email, don’t expect to play the latest games, or do anything more strenuous than some light graphics work.

Qualcomm chips are slowly becoming a more appealing option for laptops, and if you’re trying not to spend a ton of money on a laptop, they’re worth a look. While gamers and video editors should swing by our laptop roundup for more serious options, at just $550 the Zenbook A14 offers a surprising amount of value in a petite package.

The UK’s National Crime Agency and partners from the Anglophone Five Eyes intelligence alliance have fired several shots across the bows of so-called ‘bulletproof’ hosting services Media Land and ML Cloud that shielded their customers, including ransomware gangs such as Black Basta, Evil Corp and LockBit, from detection.

The two organisations are alleged to be part of a Russia-based operation run by an individual named as Alexander Volosovik (aka Yalishanda), who is described as a “critical enabler” of global cyber crime.

They are accused of supporting large-scale ransomware campaigns and other malware operations, leading to financial losses, operational disruption and reputational damage for ordinary businesses all over the world.

The NCA said the actions complemented its strategy of targeting the ransomware ecosystem’s key enablers who facilitate criminal activity and lower the barrier to entry for cyber criminals.

“Bulletproof hosting is a key component of the cyber crime ecosystem, providing a digital safe haven  for cyber criminals that can appear resistant to law enforcement takedown activity,” said NCA deputy director Paul Foster, head of the National Cyber Crime Unit.

“Services like Media Land … are critical enablers for cyber criminals so sanctions like today’s against Media Land will inhibit their ability to plan, launch and monetise criminal schemes.

“This action will assist in law enforcement’s pursuit of nullifying the ‘bulletproof’ shield provided by illicit hosting services, helping to degrade the cybercrime ecosystem that nefarious actors depend on.”

Volosovik and two associates have been sanctioned by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in the UK, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and Australia’s Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

The other two individuals were named by the US as Kirill Zatolokin, who was allegedly responsible for collecting payments and liaising with other cyber criminals, and Yulia Pankova, who allegedly provided legal and financial support to the operation.

“These so-called bulletproof hosting service providers like Media Land provide cybercriminals essential services to aid them in attacking businesses in the United States and in allied countries,” said John Hurley, under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

“Today’s trilateral action with Australia and the UK, in coordination with law enforcement partners, demonstrates our collective commitment to combatting cyber crime and protecting our citizens.”