The full list of crimes the US accuses Huawei of committing

Tripti Lahiri

The Justice Department unveiled 23 major indictments against Chinese telecom giant Huawei and its CFO Meng Wanzhou on Monday (Jan. 29), and noted that other individuals “who have not yet been apprehended” were also charged.

The charges were filed on Jan. 24 in the Eastern District of New York (pdf), and on Jan. 16 in the Western District of Washington state (pdf). In the indictment in the Eastern District, at least one name under the list of defendants appeared to be redacted, sparking intense speculation that in addition to Meng, who was arrested in Canada at the request of US authorities in early December, her father, company founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, could also be covered in the indictment. While Ren is not named in the unredacted text, in one of the indictments, covering 13 counts of federal wrongdoing, “Individual 1” is identified as the founder of Huawei and described as having made false statements to FBI agents in 2007.

A press release accompanying one of the indictments says, “The indictment charges other individuals who have not yet been apprehended and whose names will not be publicly released at this time.”

The indictments might be the start of an irreversible decline in fortune for the world’s biggest telecom equipment provider—a perch the US claims it reached, in part, through wrongdoing.

“These are very serious actions by a company that appears to be using corporate espionage… to compete in the world economy,” acting US attorney general Matthew Whitaker told reporters (paywall) at a press conference in Washington, DC on Monday.

Huawei said in an emailed statement that it was disappointed to learn of the charges. “After Ms. Meng’s arrest, the Company sought an opportunity to discuss the Eastern District of New York investigation with the Justice Department, but the request was rejected without explanation… the Company denies that it or its subsidiary or affiliate have committed any of the asserted violations of U.S. law set forth in each of the indictments, is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng, and believes the U.S. courts will ultimately reach the same conclusion.” The company said the trade secrets allegations, detailed in the Western District indictment, were resolved in 2013 after a civil suit brought by T-Mobile. The suit saw a jury award $4.8 million in damages for breach of contract to T-Mobile.

China’s foreign ministry accused the US of “deep political intentions and manipulations” in a statement on the indictments, which come as a high-level delegation from Beijing is set to arrive in Washington for talks to resolve the trade war.