US charges against Huawei and CFO Wanzhou Meng

Yesterday (28 January), the US Department of Justice announced that charges have been brought against Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (Huawei), two of its affiliates, Huawei Device USA Inc and Skycom Tech Co Ltd (Skycom), and Huawei’s CFO, Wanzhou Meng.

The 13-count indictment includes allegations of sanctions violations (namely, the use of Skycom as an “unofficial subsidiary… for Huawei’s Iran-based business”, in order to violate US-Iran sanctions), bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. The indictment was assigned to US District Judge Ann Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York.