We reported last week that the U.S. Justice Department was on the process leading to the extradition of Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, arrested in Canada over a month ago on allegations bothering on financial fraud. The 60 days windows allowed by the Law expires on January 30, and just in time, the Sates Department on the afternoon of Monday, January 28, 2019, did just that, while also slamming 13 counts including money laundering, obstruction of justice, and sanction violations on the Chinse giant.
Meng, the arrested daughter of the company’s founder, is faced with charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
The Department is accusing of Huawei of violating sanctions against Iran. The alleged crime was committed by Skycom- a Huawei subsidiary with a business presence in Iran, but the Chinese company had made claims that it sold its ownership of the company to not violate U.S. laws, a position which the Justice Department said was untrue.
Gizchina News of the week
Part of the charges stems from a civil suit between Huawei and T-mobile in which the U.S. carrier accused the Chinse firm of stealing its intellectual properties. According to prosecutors, Huawei violated confidentiality agreements with T-Mobile by stealing information on — and even a physical piece of — a robot used to test smartphones.
The DOJ is due to officially present the extradition request soon to the Canadian authorities, after which the Canadian authorities will within the next30 days assess it and issue an “authority to proceed” with hearings. You can read the specifics pertaining to the charges here.
