US Turns Up Heat on Huawei with 23-Count Indictments

The US Department of Justice has unsealed charges against Huawei and its CFO covering separate alleged conspiracies to break sanctions on Iran and to steal trade secrets from T-Mobile USA. The charges were widely expected, but will do nothing to warm relations between the world’s superpowers at a time of growing tension over trade and cyber-espionage. The first, 13-count indictment charges Huawei, affiliates Huawei Device USA and Skycom, and CFO Meng Wanzhou, also the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei. She is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracies to commit bank and wire fraud, while Huawei and Skycom are charged with: bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and conspiracy to violate IEEPA, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. rosecutors allege that the company had been lying about its relationship with a company in Iran (Skycom) since 2007, claiming that it was not a Huawei affiliate. It’s also alleged that as part of this deception, Meng made a presentation to an executive of one of Huawei’s major banking partners repeatedly making the false claims.