Due to concerns of HUAWEI’s CFO Meng Wanzhou’s alleged connection and involvement in Skycom Tech Co Ltd (‘Skycom’) , a company operating mainly in Iran, HSBC and other global financial institutions have inquired on this matter with HUAWEI. They were worried of the potential risk of violating US sanctions against Iran.
Mrs. Meng held a meeting with the concerned institutions and made false representations on the relation that HUAWEI held with Skycom. These misleading statements brought actions against Mrs. Meng. She faces various charges, namely charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud.
“In entering into the deferred prosecution agreement, Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Boeckmann. “Her admissions in the statement of facts confirm that, while acting as the Chief Financial Officer for Huawei, Meng made multiple material misrepresentations to a senior executive of a financial institution regarding Huawei’s business operations in Iran in an effort to preserve Huawei’s banking relationship with the financial institution. The truth about Huawei’s business in Iran, which Meng concealed, would have been important to the financial institution’s decision to continue its banking relationship with Huawei. Meng’s admissions confirm the crux of the government’s allegations in the prosecution of this financial fraud—that Meng and her fellow Huawei employees engaged in a concerted effort to deceive global financial institutions, the U.S. government, and the public about Huawei’s activities in Iran.”
Mrs. Meng has since entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), which grants her official pardon in exchange of her agreement to fulfil certain requirements. Under the DPA, she has agreed to the accuracy of the four-page statement facts which details the false statement knowingly made to the HSBC. Moreover, she has agreed not to commit other federal, state or local crimes. In the event of a breach, she will be subject to the relevant prosecutions against her. The government has further agreed to withdraw its request to the Ministry of Justice of Canada to extradite Meng to the United States.
The U.S. legal team consists of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon, Julia Nestor, David K. Kessler, Sarah M. Evans, and Meredith A. Arfa, MLARS Attorneys Laura Billings and Christian Nauvel, and CES Attorneys Thea D. R. Kendler, David Lim, and R. Elizabeth Abraham. R. Kendler, David Lim, and R. Elizabeth Abraham are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Morris and Brendan King of the Eastern District of New York’s Civil Division and Attorneys Andrew Finkelman, Margaret O’Malley, and John Reisenberg of the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs. Included in this team of lawyers is our compatriot Christian Nauvel, who attended Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. A trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, Christian Nauvel has been in America for years. He was a student at Royal College in Port Louis.
