US hits Huawei with new charges of racketeering, doing business in North Korea; accuses Meng Wanzhou of false representation

The United States added to its series of charges against China’s Huawei Technologies on Thursday, accusing the Chinese telecoms giant of stealing intellectual property from six US companies and covering up its involvement in projects in North Korea.

Racketeering, obstruction of justice and money laundering have been added to the criminal case, unsealed in January last year, accusing Huawei of financial fraud.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said the new charges related to a decades-long effort by Huawei and four of its subsidiaries, both in the US and in China – as well as Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who is facing extradition proceedings in Canada – to engage in racketeering activities to grow the brand into one of the most powerful telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics companies in the world.

Huawei’s efforts to steal trade secrets from six unidentified American firms were successful and resulted in the company obtaining nonpublic intellectual property about robotics, cellular antenna technology and internet router source code, the prosecutors said.

Meng was also charged on Thursday with making false representation to a bank that caused it to continue its business relationship with Huawei, according to the court document. The US government has previously alleged that Meng lied to HSBC about Huawei having dealings with Iran, which might otherwise have dissuaded the financial institution from continuing to work with the telecoms company.

“The indictment paints a damning portrait of an illegitimate organisation that lacks any regard for the law,” said Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr and vice chairman Mark Warner in a joint statement in response to the indictment against Huawei.