US Files Superseding Indictment Against Huawei - Court Filing

The United States has filed a superseding indictment against Chinese tech giant Huawei and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou, a court filing revealed on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) The United States has filed a superseding indictment against Chinese tech giant Huawei and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou, a court filing revealed on Thursday.

"Since at least in or about 2000 through the date of this Superseding Indictment, the defendants... executed a scheme to operate and grow the worldwide business of HUAWEI and its parents, global affiliates and subsidiaries through the deliberate and repeated misappropriation of intellectual property of companies headquartered or with offices in the United States (the 'Victim Companies') for commercial use," the document signed by US attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard Donoghue said.

The indictment charges Huawei, its subsidiaries and Meng Wanzhou for 16 counts, including racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets, US Department of Justice said in a separate press-release.

"As revealed by the government's independent investigation and review of court filings, the new charges in this case relate to the alleged decades-long efforts by Huawei, and several of its subsidiaries, both in the US and in the People's Republic of China, to misappropriate intellectual property, including from six US technology companies, in an effort to grow and operate Huawei's business," the release said.

Department of Justice acknowledged that Huawei's efforts to steal trade secrets and other sophisticated US technology were successful.

"The defendants obtained nonpublic intellectual property relating to internet router source code, cellular antenna technology and robotics," news release said. "As a consequence of its campaign to steal this technology and intellectual property, Huawei was able to drastically cut its research and development costs and associated delays, giving the company a significant and unfair competitive advantage."

The indictment also includes new allegations about Huawei and its subsidiaries' involvement in cooperation with Iran, North Korea and other countries, which are under US, EU and UN sanctions, the release added.

In May 2019, the US government blacklisted Huawei over its suspected connections to Chinese intelligence and has been pushing other countries to refrain from using Huawei's equipment when adopting 5G network technology.