United States Files Criminal Charges Against Huawei Technologies of China
- by Nick Cohen
- in Industry
- — Jan 31, 2019
"Huawei has always said, and (Ms. Meng) has always said, that she has confidence in the administration of justice", Meng's lawyer David Martin said Tuesday.
Meng's extradition hearing is expected to start in February.
Meng was originally scheduled to appear in court on February 6, but her lawyer asked that it to be pushed back a month to allow time for her defence counsel to prepare. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has an independent judiciary that will decide Meng's case "without any political involvement or interference".
China detained two Canadians shortly after Meng's arrest in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release her.
There was also a change in those acting as Meng's sureties. "This will end", declared US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross at a news conference on Tuesday.
Meng, who was arrested at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on December 1 and has since lived under strict conditions that restrict her to one of two homes owned by her family in the West Coast city, is mentioned numerous times in a 13-count indictment that was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday.
Meng in particular "repeatedly lied" to bankers about the relationships between the companies, especially with Skycom, a Huawei affiliate in Iran, according to the charges.
Prosecutors allege that Huawei claimed it was a separate company but that it was actually a subsidiary operating in Iran in violation of US sanctions.
Huawei is the world's biggest supplier of network gear used by phone and internet companies and has always been seen as a front for spying by the Chinese military or security services.
The criminal charges in Brooklyn and Seattle come as trade talks between China and the USA are scheduled for this week. Huawei's devices were found to be failing Tappy's tests, so the company tried to create its own robot (called xDeviceRobot) that would allow them to make sure that their devices would pass the test before sending them to T-Mobile. Huawei has said that the two companies settled their disputes in 2017.
An employee uses a computer as she deals with a customer at a Huawei store in Beijing on March 24, 2014.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers the lines between "the Chinese government and ostensibly private companies" are blurred if not totally erased and "especially the lines between lawful behaviour and fair competition and lying and hacking and cheating and stealing".
The indictments include the accusation that Huawei tried to steal trade secrets from T-Mobile and offered bonuses to employees who tracked down confidential information at competing companies, as well as the allegation that Meng and Huawei misled banks about the company's work with Iran in an effort to circumvent global sanctions. Huawei is the second largest smartphone maker in the world. T-Mobile threatened to sue the company; however, Huawei "produced a report falsely claiming that the theft was the work of rogue actors within the company and not a concerted effort by Huawei corporate entities in the United States and China", thereby obstructing justice, according to the DOJ's announcement this week.
Whitaker and Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray both thanked Canadian officials for their help.