Huawei Racketeering Trial Opens in New York — SkimNews
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- Huawei Technologies faces a New York criminal racketeering trial over alleged trade secret theft, wire and bank fraud, North Korea sanctions violations, and installing surveillance equipment used against Iranian protesters during the 2009 anti-government demonstrations — jury selection began Tuesday afternoon.
- Huawei denies all wrongdoing, calling the case "demonstrably false," while its lawyers argue the allegations are too vague and wrongly extend US authority beyond its borders.
- The charges were first announced in early 2019 during Trump's first term and later widened; Huawei has been barred from selling to US carriers, with Canada and Britain also blacklisting the company on security grounds.
- Prosecutors alleged Huawei used Hong Kong shell company Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of sanctions; CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada in late 2018 on a US extradition request and freed in September 2021 in a prisoner swap that released two Canadians, after which the US dropped the extradition request.
- Sanctions blocking most US processor chips have pushed Huawei — the world's biggest telecom network equipment supplier — to develop its own computer chips and expand into chipmaking to meet surging AI demand.
- Chinese officials labelled US actions against Huawei as "economic bullying," accusing Washington of using national security as a pretext to oppress Chinese companies.
Why it matters: The trial lands just as Huawei has successfully pivoted into AI chipmaking to survive US tech restrictions — a racketeering conviction would deepen its isolation across Western markets that have already blacklisted it. For US prosecutors, it's the last major thread from the 2019 indictment after Meng Wanzhou's 2021 release.
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