Huawei rebuts criminal charges at trial over trade secrets, Iranian sanctions

Huawei and three subsidiaries went on trial in Brooklyn facing 12 counts including racketeering, trade secret theft, bank fraud and IEEPA sanctions violations tied to concealed business in Iran. Prosecutors say Huawei falsely claimed its subsidiary Skycom wasn't its own, while Skycom helped Iran's government surveil citizens during 2009 protests, and that employees stole technology from T-Mobile and Cisco, including snapping a piece off a robotic touch-screen tester and slipping it into a backpack.

Defense attorney Brian Heberlig argued Huawei's success came from hard work, not theft, and insisted the company had 'no reason to lie' to banks like HSBC that profited from its business. That claim runs directly against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou's 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, in which she admitted misleading a bank executive about the company's Iran operations.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly ruled in June that Meng's admission can be used against the company at trial, over defense objections. The trial is expected to run about three months.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.