US prosecutors are discussing a deal with lawyers for Huawei Technologies Co (華為) chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) to resolve criminal charges against her, a person familiar with the matter said, signaling a potential end to a case that has strained ties between the US, China and Canada.
Negotiations between Meng’s attorneys and the US Department of Justice picked up after the US presidential election last month, the person said, but it is still unclear what kind of deal could be struck.
Meng, 48, was arrested in Canada in December 2018 on a US warrant. She faces bank fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC Holdings PLC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, which was subject to US sanctions.
Photo: AFP
Meng does not think she did anything wrong and so is reluctant to make admissions that she does not think are true, the person said.
Further negotiations were expected to take place yesterday, the person said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on a possible deal.
It said the case might be resolved with a “deferred prosecution agreement” under which Meng would admit to some of the allegations against her. and prosecutors would defer and later drop the charges if she cooperated.
In the case, which was filed in New York, Huawei and Meng are accused of conspiring to defraud HSBC and other banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s relationship with Skycom Tech Co, a suspected front company that operated in Iran.
Huawei has said Skycom was a local business partner, but US prosecutors said it was an unofficial subsidiary used to conceal Huawei’s Iran business.
US authorities say Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed US goods, technology and services in Iran, and to move money via the international banking system. The charges against the firm include violating US sanctions on Iran.
The source said the negotiations do not appear to be part of a larger deal with Huawei, which was hit with additional charges in the case in February, including conspiring to steal trade secrets from six US technology companies.
Justice department spokesman Marc Raimondi declined to comment. Huawei also declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois-Philippe Champagne.
Meng is due back in British Columbia Supreme Court on Monday as she fights extradition to the US.
If she were to admit wrongdoing, the Trump administration could claim victory in a thorny dispute with China, and relieve the pressure on Canada, which has found itself in the cross fire of the US-China trade war.
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