Criminal sanctions case against Huawei chief dismissed in US

A US judge on Friday dismissed an indictment against Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei Technologies, formally ending a criminal sanctions case that strained US-China relations.

Meng, whose father Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei and is the telecommunications company’s CEO, entered an agreement with US prosecutors in 2021 for the case to be dismissed four years after her December 2018 arrest.

Prosecutors accused Meng of bank fraud and other crimes for misleading HSBC Holdings and other banks about Huawei’s relationship with a company that operated in Iran.

They said Meng’s actions put banks at risk of penalties for processing transactions that violated US sanctions.

Huawei has pleaded not guilty to related US criminal charges.

US district judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn dismissed Meng’s indictment with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.

A lawyer for Meng and a spokesperson for Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Meng spent nearly three years under house arrest in Canada after her arrest at a Vancouver airport.

She entered a deferred prosecution agreement with US prosecutors in September 2021 in which she acknowledged having made false statements about Huawei’s Iran business.

On the day Donnelly approved that agreement, Meng flew home to Shenzhen.

Shortly afterwards, China released two Canadians it had been holding, and two American siblings who had been prevented from leaving the country were allowed to fly home.

Meng, 50, now serves as Huawei’s rotating chair and deputy chair, as well as CFO.

The US still views Huawei as a national security threat.

On November 25, the Biden administration banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from Huawei and China’s ZTE as they posed an “unacceptable risk” to national security.

MENG WANZHOU SPENT NEARLY THREE YEARS UNDER HOUSE ARREST IN CANADA