US unseals two indictments against China's Huawei

By Michael Hernandez</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AA) – The U.S. on Monday unsealed two indictments tied to alleged illegality by Chinese tech firm Huawei, including alleged theft of trade secrets. </p> <p>A 13-count indictment charges Huawei, two Huawei affiliates — Huawei Device USA and Skycom Tech Co. — as well as Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou with financial fraud related to attempts to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran.</p> <p>U.S. prosecutors are attempting to extradite Meng from Canada, where she has been released on bail after being taken into custody at Vancouver International Airport last month. </p> <p>She is accused of being behind an elaborate scheme to deceive financial institutions and the U.S. government about Huawei's operations in Iran. </p> <p>The U.S. accuses Huawei of doing business in Iran using a Hong Kong-based shell company, Skycom, and lying about its ties to the company. Meng allegedly sat on Skycom's board of directors and was integral to the plot. </p> <p>&quot;Chinese firms have broken our export laws and undermined sanctions, often using U.S. financial systems to facilitate their illegal activities,&quot; Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement announcing the charges. “This will end.&quot;</p> <p>Huawei is one of China's largest telecommunications companies.</p> <p>A separate 10-count indictment charges the company with stealing trade secrets from U.S.-based telecommunications company T-Mobile and then attempting to obstruct justice when the company threatened to sue Huawei. </p> <p>The alleged theft dates back to 2012, when Huawei began efforts to steal information about a robot T-Mobile uses to test phones, according to the indictment.</p> <p>The effort included Huawei employees clandestinely taking photos of the robot, taking its measurements and stealing one of its pieces in a bid to reverse engineer it. All of the alleged impropriety violated confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.</p> <p>After T-Mobile sought to file a legal challenge, Huawei sought to blame rogue actors in a bid to diffuse the blame. </p> <p>“To the detriment of American ingenuity, Huawei continually disregarded the laws of the United States in the hopes of gaining an unfair economic advantage,&quot; FBI Director Christopher Wray said.</p> <p>The indictments come as trade talks between Washington and Beijing are slated to take place later this week from Jan. 30-31.</p> <p>They come amid a 90-day pause in the bilateral trade war between the countries agreed to on Dec. 1. A U.S. delegation traveled to Beijing from Jan. 7-9 for the last round of talks.