US hits Huawei with fresh charges over alleged trade secret theft
The US has ramped up its attack on Huawei, filing a raft of new charges against the embattled Chinese tech giant on allegations of stealing trade secrets.
In a 16-count indictment published today, the Justice Department accused Huawei of stealing technology from six unnamed American companies.
The fresh accusations come alongside raft of other charges including racketeering, bank fraud and money laundering.
“The new charges in this case relate to the alleged decades-long efforts by Huawei, and several of its subsidiaries, both in the US and in the People’s Republic of China, to misappropriate intellectual property, including from six US technology companies, in an effort to grow and operate Huawei’s business,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The indicted defendants included Huawei and four of its official and unofficial subsidiaries, as well as the company’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.
Wanzhou is currently in Canada fighting extradition to the US on charges including bank fraud and breaching sanctions against Iran. She has denied the allegations.
In its statement the Justice Department said Huawei had been successful in its efforts to steal trade secrets and other US technology.
“As a consequence of its campaign to steal this technology and intellectual property, Huawei was able to drastically cut its research and development costs and associated delays, giving the company a significant and unfair competitive advantage,” it said.
In addition, the firm accused the Shenzhen-based tech giant of making “repeated misstatements” to US officials, including FBI agents, when confronted with evidence of wrongdoing.
A Huawei spokesman said: “We are private employee-owned company, that respects the law in every one of the 170 markets where we operate.”