The executive charged is Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Canada last month. The US is seeking to extradite her, alleging she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.
David Martin, Meng’s lawyer in Canada, didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Meng is out on bail in Vancouver and her case is due back in court Tuesday as she awaits extradition proceedings to begin.
The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Monday against Chinese tech giant Huawei, a top company executive and several subsidiaries, alleging the company stole trade secrets, misled banks about its business and violated US sanctions.
The charges were announced just before a crucial two-day round of trade talks between the United States and China are scheduled to begin in Washington. Trade analysts say they could dim prospects for a breakthrough.
The sweeping indictments accuse the company of using extreme efforts to steal trade secrets from American businesses – including trying to take a piece of a robot from a T-Mobile lab.