Chinese giant Huawei continues to be attacked in the U.S., this time the company is being accused of extortion and conspiracy to steal trade secrets on Thursday (February 13), along with two of its subsidiaries in the U.S., according to TWSJ.
The accusations are yet another escalation of the Trump administration's pressure on the Chinese giant over "national security" issues.
Authorities have prevented Huawei from negotiating with American companies since early 2019, fearing that the company's use of hardware or mobile devices could be used to spy on American forces.
Federal Court (Brooklyn)The new charge was filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, and alleges that Huawei is engaging in a scheme to steal trade secrets and intellectual property from six American technology companies, among other targets. The charges are related to complaints made by companies such as Cisco, T-Mobile, Motorola and others.
According to prosecutors, Huawei's efforts have been successful and have gained access to private information related to robotics, cell phone antenna technology and Internet router source code.
The alleged crimes have allowed Huawei to cut costs and accelerate research and development, giving an unfair advantage over the competition, prosecutors said.
The accusations are based on others raised in early 2019, when the trade embargo began, accusing Huawei of financial fraud and breach of sanctions between the U.S. and Iran.
In response to the allegations, Huawei called the accusations "unfounded" and said it was motivated by fears of competition and not by wrong actions.
The company said the "extortion" charges represented nothing more than a "smoke screen" of civil accusations from decades ago. Huawei added that it does not spy on rivals and complies with global market laws in the best possible way.
The Trump administration prevented U.S. suppliers from working with Huawei and considered removing Huawei from the U.S. financial network, although it did not.
The government also pressured European companies to stop working with Huawei, too, but they were unsuccessful. The European Union did not agree with this, voting last month to allow Huawei equipment to be used in non-essential parts of its 5G technology. Trump follows #chat with this.
