U.S. DoJ Charges Chinese Smartphone Company Huawei With Stealing Trade Secrets and Fraud

The United States Justice Department today announced a series of criminal charges against Chinese smartphone maker Huawei for stealing trade secrets, bank fraud, wire fraud, and obstructing justice.

In the first of two indictments unsealed this afternoon, the Justice Department accuses Huawei, Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, and two affiliates of bank and wire fraud.

huawei logo
Huawei is said to have misled a global bank and U.S. authorities about its relationship with subsidiaries Skycom and Huawei Device USA to conduct business in Iran despite sanctions, conducting millions of dollars in business. Huawei is accused of lying to the government, destroying documents, and attempting to move key Huawei employees back to China to impede the investigation.

A second indictment accuses Huawei of stealing trade secrets, wire fraud, and obstructing justice for stealing robotic technology from T-Mobile U.S. for testing smartphone durability.

Huawei violated confidentiality agreements with T-Mobile when it stole information on "Tappy," a T-Mobile robot designed to mimic human fingers to test smartphones back in 2012. Huawei employees secretly took photos of the robot, measured it, and stole components. T-Mobile won a $4.8 million lawsuit against Huawei in 2017 over the dispute.

All in all, the U.S. filed 10 charges related to trade secrets for the T-Mobile theft and 13 charges related to sanction violations against Huawei. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou from Canada, where she was arrested in December.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the charges levied against Huawei "expose brazen and persistent actions to exploit American companies and financial institutions and threaten the free and fair global marketplace."

As you can tell from the number and magnitude of the charges, Huawei and its senior executives repeatedly refused to respect U.S. law and standard international business practices. Huawei also intentionally and systematically sought to steal valuable intellectual property from an American company so it could circumvent hard-earned time consuming research and gain an unfair market advantage. [...]

As Americans, we should all be concerned about the potential for any company beholden to a foreign government - especially one that doesn't share our values -- to burrow into the American telecommunications market. Today's charges serve as a warning that the FBI does not - and will not -- tolerate businesses that violate our laws, obstruct our justice, and jeopardize our national security.

The charges filed today against Huawei will likely escalate U.S.-China tensions, though the Department of Justice said that the indictments are "wholly separate" from trade negotiations with China, which are set to continue this week.

The U.S. has already banned government employees and contractors from using devices from Huawei and ZTE, and legislation has been introduced that would ban the export of U.S. parts and components to Chinese telecommunications companies in violation of U.S. export control or sanction laws.

Huawei is the largest smartphone manufacturer in China and a major Apple competitor in the country. Few Huawei products are available in the U.S., however, because of the aforementioned cybersecurity concerns.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?

Wednesday September 24, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
With the iPhone 15 series, I did an experiment and kept my iPhone's Charge Limit set at 80 percent for an entire year. It provided an interesting look at the impact of charge limits on battery longevity, so I decided to repeat it for the iPhone 16 line. Since September 2024, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has been limited to an 80 percent charge, with no cheating. As of today, my battery's maximum...
Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Thursday September 25, 2025 1:11 pm PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple smart home hub concept based on rumors This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system. In a report last month, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform ...
AirPods Pro 3 Newsroom

Apple's 'Back to School' Offer Ends Soon, Now Applies to AirPods Pro 3

Wednesday September 24, 2025 7:20 am PDT by
Apple's annual "Back to School" promotion for students ends soon, so act fast if you want to score free AirPods with the purchase of an eligible new Mac or iPad. Until Tuesday, September 30, college students and qualifying educational staff in the U.S. can receive free AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. This is a $179 value. ...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Skipped the iPhone 17 Pro? Here's What is Rumored for iPhone 18 Pro

Tuesday September 23, 2025 8:55 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still a year away, there are already a few rumors about the devices that offer an early look ahead. Below, we have recapped some of the early iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far. This story was published previously, and it has been updated to reflect the latest rumors. Many early rumors prove to be true, but nothing is confirmed yet, and Apple's...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.1 Update for iPhones Coming Soon — Here's What to Expect

Thursday September 25, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. MacRumors has also seen evidence of iOS 26.0.1 in its visitor logs in recent days. It is likely that iOS 26.0.1 will fix a camera-related bug on the new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models. In his iPhone Air review, CNN Underscored's...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple More Personal Siri Ad

Apple Responds to U.S. Class Action Lawsuit Over Delayed Siri Features

Friday September 26, 2025 6:57 am PDT by
In March, Apple delayed the launch of its personalized Siri features, and soon after the company was hit with multiple class action lawsuits over the situation. The plaintiffs said they never would have purchased an iPhone 16, or would have paid less, had they known Apple's marketing about the Siri features was false. In the U.S., all of the complaints were consolidated into one class...

Top Rated Comments

lunarworks Avatar
87 months ago
Huawei is shady as hell. They hacked into Nortel for years, stealing all sorts of sensitive material, and strongly contributed to that company's downfall. The more I learn about them, the less I like them.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
341328 Avatar
87 months ago
Doing business with China is a long term bad move.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macguru212 Avatar
87 months ago
DOJ: It's our way or the Huawei!
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brendu Avatar
87 months ago
Chinese company cheats, steals, and lies? Is anyone here surprised? Frack the Chinese. I wish we could completely abandon them for all manufacturing (not just apple). They are NOT our friends. The Chinese laugh at us every day for being so stupid as to let them do this.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
87 months ago
FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the charges levied against Huawei "expose brazen and persistent actions to exploit American companies and financial institutions and threaten the free and fair global marketplace."
China wouldn’t know a free and fair global market if it hit them in the face—and it’s about to!
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sidewinder3000 Avatar
87 months ago
Would be great if this was the beginning of a crackdown on espionage and illegal activity by the Chinese government against US corporations. It’s a travesty that a government with such vast resources is attacking American businesses with no consequences.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)