Meng Wanzhou’s extradition lawyer denies she risked HSBC’s reputation or loans, citing ‘evidentiary vacuum’ in fraud case

The US had put forward a ‘bizarre’ fraud case that failed to establish the loss or risk of loss essential to the charge, says lawyer Scott Fenton

There was no evidence any of HSBC’s loans to Huawei entities were exposed to any increased risk as a result of Meng’s presentation, he says

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Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co., leaves her home in Vancouver to attend her extradition hearing on Tuesday. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Published: 3:46am, 18 Aug 2021Updated: 5:52am, 25 Dec 2021

The US accusations that Meng Wanzhou had defrauded HSBC existed in an “evidentiary vacuum”, her lawyer told her Canadian extradition hearing on Tuesday, as he dismissed arguments that she had put the bank’s reputation or loans to Huawei Technologies at risk.

Such risks were at best “remote” and “speculative”, if not zero, said lawyer Scott Fenton, as hearings in the extradition case neared their end, almost 1,000 days after Meng’s arrest at Vancouver International Airport on a US warrant.

The Huawei executive is wanted by US prosecutors for allegedly defrauding HSBC by lying to the bank about the Chinese tech giant’s business dealings in Iran, conducted via an affiliate called Skycom, thus putting the bank at risk of breaching US sanctions.

The alleged deceit is said to have been carried out in a 2013 PowerPoint presentation she made to a HSBC executive in a Hong Kong teahouse that was intended to reassure the bank.

Meng Wanzhou, surrounded by security personnel, returns to court after a break in her extradition hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

A fraud charge must involve actual loss or risk of loss, Meng’s lawyers and the Canadian government lawyers representing US interests in the case agree.