U.S. Ramps Up Huawei Fight With Iran and Trade-Secret Charges

U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges against Huawei, alleging it stole trade secrets from an American rival and committed bank fraud by violating sanctions against doing business with Iran., according to Bloomberg.

Huawei has been the target of a broad U.S. crackdown, including allegations it sold telecommunications equipment that could be used by China’s Communist Party for spying. The charges also mark an escalation of tensions between the world’s two largest economies, which are mired in a trade war that has roiled markets.

In a 13-count indictment in Brooklyn, New York, the government alleged Huawei, two affiliated companies and CFO Meng Wanzhou engaged in bank and wire fraud as well as conspiracy in connection with business in Iran. Separately, charges filed in Washington state accuse the company of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile and offering bonuses to employees who succeeded in getting technology from rivals.

The cases “expose Huawei’s brazen and persistent actions to exploit American companies and financial institutions, and to threaten the free and fair global marketplace,“ Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, said at a press conference in Washington announcing the charges. Separately, Canada’s justice department confirmed it received a formal request to extradite Meng to the U.S. Huawei issued a statement that it had done nothing wrong in either case.

U.S. prosecutors said that Huawei concealed its relationship with Skycom Tech Co., a Hong Kong-registered company with operations in Iran, in violation of U.S. laws. CFO Meng “personally made a presentation in August 2013 to an executive of one of Huawei’s major banking partners in which she repeatedly lied about the relationship,“ prosecutors said in a statement announcing the charges.