Huawei CFO Released After Admitting She Misled Bank

Huawei’s CFO is finally back in China after striking a plea deal with the US authorities in which she admitted playing a pivotal role in a scheme designed to defraud a global financial institution.

Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was indicted by the US in 2019 on charges associated with the firm’s alleged breaking of US sanctions on Iran.

According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), she lied to a banking partner about the scale and nature of the firms’ business in Iran to preserve the relationship with the financial institution.

Specifically, she told the senior exec at the bank that subsidiary Skycom, which operated in Iran, was just a business partner rather than wholly controlled by Huawei. She also said Huawei had sold all its shares in Skycom, when, in fact, it sold them to another entity controlled by Huawei.

The DoJ said she also lied in claiming Huawei “operates in Iran in strict compliance with applicable laws, regulations and sanctions” and that “there has been no violation of export control regulations” by “Huawei or any third party Huawei works with.”

As a result of her false reassurances, the bank helped clear around $100m in transactions from Skycom, some of which came from its Iran dealings, in contravention of US sanctions.

According to the plea deal, Meng pleaded not guilty to charges of bank fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, ..

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