Huawei CFO Meng to appear in court, expected to reach agreement with US: Reuters

She had been indicted on bank and wire fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.

Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou and US prosecutors are expected to appear in court to say they have reached an agreement to resolve charges against her, according to a source familiar with the matter, in a process that should allow her to leave Canada.

Meng is expected to appear virtually in a hearing in Brooklyn federal court, according to a source. She was arrested at Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 on a US warrant. She had been indicted on bank and wire fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.

The agreement, reported first by Reuters, pertains only to Meng and US charges against the company remain, according to another person familiar with the matter.

The deferred prosecution agreement would remove one of several major disputes between the world’s two biggest economies. The agreement could also potentially pave the way for the release of the two Canadians held in China, who were arrested shortly after Meng was taken in custody in 2018.

A spokeswoman for Huawei declined to comment. A spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn declined to comment.
An attorney for Meng could not be immediately reached for comment.

Meng has said she is innocent and has been fighting extradition to the United States from Canada. Meng is confined to Vancouver and monitored 24/7 by private security that she pays for as part of her bail agreement. Meng – who also goes by her English names, Cathy and Sabrina – is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.

Articles published by Reuters in 2012 and 2013 about Huawei, Skycom, and Meng figured prominently in the US criminal case against her. Reuters reported that Skycom had offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile phone operator in 2010. At least 13 pages of the proposal were marked “Huawei confidential” and carried Huawei’s logo.

Reuters also reported numerous financial and personnel links between Huawei and Skycom, including that Meng had served on Skycom’s board of directors between February 2008 and April 2009.

Judicial hearings in her extradition case in Vancouver wrapped up in August, with the date for a ruling to be set on Oct. 21.

China arrested two Canadians – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – in 2018, soon after Canadian police detained Meng, the chief financial officer of a Chinese tech giant on the US warrant, charging her with sanctions-related fraud.

In August, a Chinese court sentenced Spavor to 11 years in prison for espionage.