U.S. federal prosecutors Monday filed criminal charges against Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei alleging the company stole intellectual property from T-Mobile and violated U.S. sanction orders.
The 10-count indictment charges Huawei with conspiracy to steal trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice as the result of employees trying to steal trade secrets about a robot known as “Tappy,” that was used to test phones, including parts of the device itself, according to court documents.
Huawei claimed that the theft was the work of individual actors within the company but despite their efforts, two separate grand juries in Seattle and New York have returned indictments against Huawei affiliates, subsidiaries and executives as a result of the crimes.
"As you can tell from the number and magnitude of charges, Huawei and its senior executives repeatedly refused to respect the laws of the United States and standard international business practices," FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a press conference."Huawei also intentionally and systematically sought to steal valuable intellectual property from an American company, so it could circumvent hard-earned, time-consuming research and gain an unfair market advantage."
Officials Tuesday formally requested the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, late last year at the request of American authorities.
