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A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday rejected Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's request to dismiss the majority of charges in a sweeping indictment, allowing the Chinese telecoms giant to face trial over allegations of trade secret theft, bank fraud, and sanctions violations.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn ruled that prosecutors had presented adequate grounds in their 16-count indictment to proceed, particularly with racketeering and fraud claims.
Huawei, which pleaded not guilty, had sought to dismiss 13 of the 16 charges, claiming it was “a prosecutorial target in search of a crime.” The company and its attorneys did not comment following the ruling. U.S. prosecutors also declined to issue a statement.
The trial is scheduled to begin on 4 May 2026, and could last several months.
Key Allegations
Racketeering: Prosecutors accuse Huawei of engaging in a criminal scheme to steal intellectual property from six U.S. tech companies to grow its business.
Sanctions violations: Huawei allegedly used Skycom Tech Co Ltd, a Hong Kong-based affiliate, to conduct illegal business in Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions.
Bank fraud: The company is accused of misleading banks about its relationship with Skycom, funneling over $100 million through the U.S. financial system.
Judge Donnelly found that Skycom “operated as Huawei’s Iranian subsidiary” and indirectly benefited from the transfers, thereby implicating Huawei in sanctions violations.
Background
The case dates back to 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, when the U.S. Department of Justice launched the China Initiative, a program aimed at countering alleged Chinese theft of American intellectual property. While that initiative was ended in 2022 under President Joe Biden, the Huawei case has continued under standard legal channels.
Notably, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder, was previously arrested in Canada and held for nearly three years before her release in 2021. Charges against her were dropped the following year.
Wider Impact
Huawei, headquartered in Shenzhen and employing over 200,000 people globally, has been the target of numerous U.S. restrictions, including limits on access to American technology since 2019. The U.S. government continues to cite national security concerns, claims that Huawei has consistently denied.
The case, U.S. v. Huawei Technologies Co et al, is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (No. 18-cr-00457).
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Snapchat will start charging users who store more than 5GB of photos and videos in its Memories feature, prompting backlash from long-time users.
The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan seems to be adopting a balanced foreign policy as it engages with Western and regional powers in a new round of diplomatic outreach.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia will not bow to pressure from the United States or any other country, warning that any strikes deep inside Russian territory would be met with a very serious, possibly overwhelming, response.
The head coach of an National Basketball Association (NBA) team, a basketballer athlete and members of the alleged crime families were part of more than thirty people arrested in an FBI crackdown on illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.
Azerbaijan and Indonesia are expected to take leading roles in a planned international force to be deployed in Gaza, Israel Hayom has reported, after Israel opposed Turkish participation in the mission.
Britain’s King Charles and Pope Leo held a historic joint prayer in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on Thursday, the first such act of worship between an English monarch and a Catholic pontiff since King Henry VIII’s break from Rome in 1534.
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