Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is set to face trial in New York on charges that it deceived banks about its business in Iran, evaded U.S. sanctions, and conspired to steal U.S. trade secrets.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn, and U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly has indicated the trial is expected to last about three months. A conviction against the foreign tech giant would be seen as a massive and delayed win for the Trump administration, which made a decisive call in 2019 to place one of the world’s leading technology companies on a trade blacklist, citing national security concerns and alleged criminal conduct.
The fraud allegations center on Huawei’s relationship with Skycom, a Hong Kong company that operated in Iran. Prosecutors accused Huawei of concealing its control of the business to obtain restricted U.S. goods and move money through the international banking system.
Prosecutors said Huawei misled HSBC and other banks about that relationship, exposing the financial institutions to sanctions violations. HSBC processed more than $100 million in U.S. dollar transactions connected to Skycom.
Huawei pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing, describing the prosecution as an effort to undermine its competitiveness.
“The government’s overarching narrative is demonstrably false,” the company said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The case reaches trial as competition between Washington and Beijing has expanded from telecommunications networks to advanced chips and artificial intelligence. Huawei supplies communications infrastructure worldwide and has expanded its chipmaking efforts as U.S. restrictions have limited its access to U.S. technology.
The prosecution includes bank and wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction, and racketeering conspiracy charges. The racketeering allegation accuses Huawei and its affiliates of conducting business through a pattern of criminal activity.
The Justice Department said when announcing expanded charges in 2020 that Huawei used deception to obtain technology from U.S. companies. Prosecutors also alleged that Huawei concealed business in North Korea and that Skycom helped Iran conduct domestic surveillance, including during anti-government demonstrations in Tehran in 2009.
Huawei’s lawyers sought dismissal, arguing that the allegations were too vague and that prosecutors were improperly applying U.S. law to conduct abroad. The company characterized the trade-secret accusations as a repackaging of commercial disputes that had already been resolved.
“Long-term investment in innovation, backed by the utmost respect for intellectual property, has been the driving force behind Huawei’s business success,” the company said in its statement to the Associated Press.
The current prosecution first triggered a diplomatic dispute among the United States, China, and Canada. Canadian authorities arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder, in December 2018 at Washington’s request.
Prosecutors accused Meng of misleading a banking executive about Huawei’s ownership and control of Skycom. She agreed in September 2021 to a statement of facts acknowledging false statements as part of an agreement to resolve her fraud charges. The U.S. withdrew its extradition request, allowing her to return to China.
The agreement resolved Meng’s case separately from the prosecution of Huawei.
President Donald Trump’s first administration took much credit for its strong-arm approach to the tech giant when it publicly announced charges against Huawei in 2019 and placed it on a trade blacklist. The administration also pressed allies to exclude Huawei equipment from their telecommunications networks, citing concerns that China could use it for espionage.
Chinese officials rejected the national security rationale as a pretext for restricting Chinese companies.
The criminal trial will test the government’s specific allegations of fraud, sanctions violations, and technology theft against that wider dispute over Huawei’s role in global communications.
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Prosecutors will seek forfeiture of property or proceeds tied to criminal activity if Huawei is convicted.
Huawei did not respond to the Washington Examiner when asked for comment.