Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has gone on trial in a federal court in Brooklyn in one of the most consequential corporate criminal prosecutions involving a Chinese technology company in the United States.
US prosecutors accuse Huawei of operating a long-running criminal enterprise involving alleged theft of trade secrets, sanctions violations, bank fraud, money laundering, racketeering and obstruction.
In opening arguments, prosecutors alleged that Huawei obtained proprietary technology belonging to American companies and concealed aspects of its business activities in Iran.
Huawei strongly denies wrongdoing.
Its defence argues that prosecutors are seeking to transform ordinary competitive business conduct and isolated actions by individual employees into evidence of an overarching criminal conspiracy.
The litigation traces back to a 2018 indictment and previously led to the detention in Canada of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Charges against Meng were ultimately dismissed following a deferred prosecution agreement.
The present trial is expected to continue for approximately three months.
Source: Reuters
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