Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou delivers a speech during the Huawei 2021 Annual Report Press Conference in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, March 28, 2022. (STR / AFP)
US prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to dismiss bank fraud and other charges against Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies.
Meng, whose 2018 arrest strained relations between the United States and China, struck a deal with the prosecutors last year for the charges against her to be dismissed on Dec 1, 2022, four years from the date of her arrest in Canada on a US warrant.
With no information Meng violated the deal, "the government respectfully moves to dismiss the third superseding indictment in this case as to defendant Wanzhou Meng," Brooklyn US Attorney Carolyn Pokorny wrote in a Dec 1 letter to US District Judge Ann Donnelly.
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Huawei is still charged in the case, which is pending in US District Court in Brooklyn, New York. No trial date has yet been set, and a status conference is scheduled for Feb 7.
Meng Wanzhou now serves as Huawei’s rotating chairwoman and deputy chairwoman as well as its chief financial officer
Meng had been accused of bank fraud and other crimes for misleading global bank HSBC Holdings Plc about the company's business in Iran to obtain banking services in violation of US sanctions.
As part of her deal – a deferred prosecution agreement – she acknowledged that she had made false statements about the company's Iran business in a 2013 meeting with a bank executive. Meng's statements were in a statement of facts that she agreed was accurate and voluntary and would not contradict.
The charges against Huawei include everything from bank fraud to sanctions busting to conspiracy to steal trade secrets from US technology companies and obstructing justice. It has pleaded not guilty.
In the wake of its alleged activities, Huawei was added to a US trade blacklist, restricting US suppliers from doing business with the company.
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The US also waged a global campaign against Huawei. Just this week, the US Federal Communications Commission adopted final rules banning new telecommunications equipment from Huawei.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, now serves as the company's rotating chairwoman and deputy chairwoman as well as its chief financial officer.
She flew to China from Canada on Sept 24, 2021, the day she struck the deal.
A lawyer for Meng declined to comment and a spokesperson for Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.