A U.S. prosecutor opened the federal trial against Huawei in Brooklyn on Wednesday, calling the Chinese telecom giant a criminal enterprise built on stolen American technology and sanctions evasion. Huawei's defense countered that the case cherry-picks isolated employee misconduct to manufacture a conspiracy that never existed. The trial, rooted in a 2018 indictment, is expected to run three months.
Prosecutor calls Huawei a criminal enterprise
A U.S. prosecutor described Huawei as a criminal enterprise that stole from American companies to build its telecommunications empire, as the trial against the tech giant opened in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. In the government's opening statement, DOJ trial attorney Taylor Stout told jurors Huawei used "Theft, lies, cover-up" for 20 years to victimize American companies and dominate the telecommunications industry.
Stout said Huawei conspired to steal trade secrets from five U.S. companies, including operating system source code for internet routers from Cisco Systems and a robotic arm used to test phones from T-Mobile. He told jurors the government would present video evidence of an employee stealing the robotic arm.
Defense says government is cherry-picking
Huawei's defense team pushed back hard. Lawyer Brian Heberlig told jurors the case is about competition and innovation, not conspiracy or theft, arguing prosecutors would twist routine industry activity to make it look criminal. He said the government was cherry-picking isolated events that don't amount to an overarching conspiracy.
Heberlig said the Cisco and T-Mobile incidents were actions by individual employees that management moved to correct once discovered. A separate incident, in which an employee photographed a Fujitsu networking device at a trade show without authorization, was a foolish act by a worker who was promptly fired, he said. Beijing also weighed in: a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that the government firmly opposes the U.S. "suppression and containment" of Chinese enterprises.
Case traces back to Iran sanctions and Meng's arrest
The case began with a 2018 indictment charging Huawei and its chief financial officer with bank fraud and sanctions violations tied to its business in Iran, and later expanded to include racketeering charges. Prosecutors allege Huawei kept its Iran work secret to launder U.S. dollars through the financial system, while the defense says there's no evidence Huawei knew the dollar-clearing violated sanctions law.
CFO Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver in 2018 on a U.S. warrant and fought extradition for nearly three years before returning to China under a diplomatic agreement. Charges against her were dismissed in 2022 under a deferred prosecution agreement, though admissions she made are set to be introduced as evidence. The underlying case draws in part on Reuters reporting from 2012 and 2013 that Skycom, a firm operating in Iran, offered to sell at least €1.3 million ($1.5 million) worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard equipment to Iran's largest mobile operator in 2010, while Meng served on Skycom's board between February 2008 and April 2009.
Source: All News
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