DOJ charges Chinese tech giant Huawei, top executive with fraud

The cases accuse the company of everything from bank and wire fraud to obstructing justice and conspiring to steal trade secrets from T-Mobile US Inc.

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker announced criminal charges against Meng and other Huawei executives.

Part of the charges stems from a civil suit between Huawei and T-mobile in which the USA carrier accused the Chinse firm of stealing its intellectual properties.

David Martin, Meng's lawyer in Canada, didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The charges follow the December 1 arrest of Huawei CFO Wanzhou Meng, who faces the possibility of decades in jail.

A grand jury in NY separately returned an indictment for 13 additional crimes allegedly committed by Huawei, a US subsidiary (Huawei USA), and an Iranian affiliate (Skycom).

The Justice Department has charged the defendants with obstruction of justice, violating sanctions, conspiracy to defraud the USA, and money laundering.

The US says that Meng "continued to lie to Huawei's banking partners about Huawei's relationship with Skycom".

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Trump administration is cracking down on those who violate trade sanctions. The U.S. said during its press conference it was "deeply grateful to the government of Canada" for following the rule of law. A jury in Seattle ruled that Huawei had misappropriated the robotic technology from T-Mobile's lab in Washington state.

The reason for Huawei's deception, Whitaker said, was to hide the fact that the company was not in compliance with American sanctions.

Today's indictments come following reports that federal prosecutors had been investigating Huawei on allegations of trade secret theft from American companies.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday he had removed John McCallum for saying that Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou could make a strong argument against being sent to the United States.

Huawei also maintains that it was an isolated incident that involved two employees who acted inappropriately.

Additionally, and seemingly unconnected with regard to the sanctions violation, the Justice Department also accused Huawei of stealing intellectual property from T-Mobile.

"The indictment ... reveals just how determined Huawei was to steal T-Mobile's trade secrets, how clearly Huawei knew that what it was doing was wrong, and just how far Huawei was willing to go to get the technology it wanted", Hayes said.

Whitaker confirmed that the department is proceeding with its extradition efforts against Meng in accordance with the existing timetable, which requires that the formal request be registered with the Canadian courts by Wednesday.