According to court documents, and as agreed to by Meng in the DPA’s statement of facts, Skycom Tech. Co. Ltd.(Skycom) was a Hong Kong company that primarily operated in Iran. As of February2007, Skycom was wholly owned by a subsidiary of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.(Huawei), Hua Ying Management(Hua Ying). In November2007, Hua Ying transferred its shares of Skycom to another entity that Huawei controlled, Canicula Holdings(Canicula). At the time Hua Ying transferred its Skycom shares to Canicula, Meng was the Secretary of Hua Ying.
In February2008, after Huawei transferred ownership of Skycom from Hua Ying to Canicula, Meng joined Skycom’s Board of Directors, which was comprised of Huawei employees. She served on the Board until April2009. After Meng departed from Skycom’s Board, Skycom’s Board members continued to be Huawei employees, Canicula continued to own Skycom, and Canicula continued to be controlled by Huawei. As of August2012, Huawei included Skycom among a list of“other Huawei subsidiaries” in Huawei corporate documents written in English.
Between2010 and2014, Huawei controlled Skycom’s business operations in Iran, and Skycom was owned by an entity controlled by Huawei. All significant Skycom business decisions were made by Huawei. Moreover, Skycom’s countrymanager– the head of the business– was a Huawei employee. Individuals employed by Skycom believed they worked for Huawei.
During the same time period, Huawei employees engaged with a U.K. staffing company to provide engineers in Iran to support Skycom’s work with Iranian telecommunications service providers. Negotiations and contracting on behalf of Skycom were conducted by Huawei employees. To pay for these contractors, Huawei sent at least$7.5 million to the U.K. staffing company in a series of approximately80 payments from Skycom’s bank accounts in Asia, including at a multinational financial institution(Financial Institution1), to the U.K. staffing company’s account in the United Kingdom. The transactions were denominated in U.S. dollars and cleared through the United States.
In December2012 and January2013, various news organizations, including Reuters, reported that Skycom offered to sell“embargoed” equipment from a U.S. computer equipment manufacturer in Iran in potential violation of U.S. export controls law, and that Huawei had close ties with Skycom. In a statement to Reuters published in a December2012 article, Huawei claimed that Skycom was one of its“major local partners” in Iran. Reuters reported that Huawei had further stated that“Huawei’s business in Iran is in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations including those of the U.N., U.S. and E.U. This commitment has been carried out and followed strictly by our company. Further, we also require our partners to follow the same commitment and strictly abide by the relevant laws and regulations.”
In January2013, a subsequent Reuters article reported that Meng served on the Board of Directors of Skycom between February2008 and April2009 and identified other connections between Skycom directors and Huawei. The article also quoted the following statement from Huawei:“The relationship between Huawei and Skycom is a normal business partnership. Huawei has established a trade compliance system which is in line with industry best practices and our business in Iran is in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations including those of the UN. We also require our partners, such as Skycom, to make the same commitments.” This statement was incorrect, as Huawei operated and controlled Skycom; Skycom was therefore not Huawei’s business“partner.”
After these articles were published, Financial Institution1 and other global financial institutions that provided international banking services to Huawei(collectively, the“Financial Institutions”), including U.S. dollar-clearing, made inquiries to Huawei in response to the above-described press reports. In early2013, Huawei employees represented to the Financial Institutions that Skycom was just a local business partner of Huawei in Iran and that Skycom had not conducted Iran-related transactions using its accounts at the Financial Institutions.
To address the allegations in the news reports, Huawei requested an in-person meeting with a senior Financial Institution1 employee. That meeting occurred on Aug.22,2013 in Hong Kong, at which time Meng met with an executive of Financial Institution1 responsible for operations in the Asia Pacific region. During the meeting, Meng delivered a PowerPoint presentation written in Chinese, which was translated by an interpreter into English. Meng stated that she was using an interpreter to be precise in her language.
In her presentation, Meng stated, among other things, that Huawei’s relationship with Skycom was“normal business cooperation” and“normal and controllable business cooperation,” and she described Skycom as a“partner,” a“business partner of Huawei,” and a“third party Huawei works with” in Iran. Those statements were untrue because, as Meng knew, Skycom was not a business partner of, or a third party working with, Huawei; instead, Huawei controlled Skycom, and Skycom employees were really Huawei employees. It would have been material to Financial Institution1 to know that Huawei controlled Skycom.
In addition, Meng stated that Huawei“was once a shareholder of Skycom” but had“sold all its shares in Skycom.” Those statements were untrue, because, as Meng knew, Huawei had“sold” its shares to an entity that Huawei controlled. Specifically, Huawei transferred Skycom shares from a Huawei subsidiary(Hua Ying) to another entity that was controlled by Huawei(Canicula). It would have been material to Financial Institution1 to know that Skycom was transferred from one Huawei-controlled entity to another.
Finally, Meng stated that 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.” These statements were untrue because Huawei’s operation of Skycom, which caused the Financial Institutions to provide prohibited services, including banking services, for Huawei’s Iran-based business while Huawei concealed Skycom’s link to Huawei, was in violation of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations,31 C.F.R. Part560. Moreover, between2010 and2014, Huawei caused Skycom to conduct approximately$100 million worth of U.S.-dollar transactions through Financial Institution1 that cleared through the United States, at least some of which supported its work in Iran in violation of U.S. law, including$7.5 million for Iran-based contractors from the U.K. staffing company to do work in Iran.
At no point during or after the meeting did Meng, who was aware of Huawei’s public statements about Skycom in Reuters, retract or amend any of those statements. Moreover, Huawei’s Treasurer, who also attended the August meeting, did not correct or amend any of the statements made by Meng.
Shortly after the meeting between Meng and Financial Institution1, Huawei prepared an English version of the PowerPoint presentation at Financial Institution1’s request. Meng later arranged for a paper copy of that PowerPoint presentation to be delivered to the Financial Institution1 executive she had met with in September2013. The representations in the English version of the PowerPoint presentation closely tracked the ones Meng had made during the meeting.
After the meeting and subsequent to receipt of Meng’s PowerPoint presentation, Financial Institution1 decided to continue its relationship with Huawei. The other Financial Institutions similarly continued their respective relationships with Huawei.
The DPA
Under the terms of the DPA, Meng has agreed to the accuracy of a four-page statement of facts that details the knowingly false statements she made to Financial Institution1. Meng also has agreed not to commit other federal, state or local crimes. If Meng breaches the agreement, she will be subject to prosecution of all the charges against her in the third superseding indictment filed in this case. The government also agreed to withdraw its request to the Ministry of Justice of Canada that Meng be extradited to the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon, Julia Nestor, David K. Kessler, Sarah M. Evans and Meredith A. Arfa for the Eastern District of New York; Trial Attorneys Laura Billings and Christian Nauvel for the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section; and Trial Attorneys Thea D. R. Kendler, David Lim and R. Elizabeth Abraham of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. Valuable assistance was provided by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Morris and Brendan King of the Eastern District of New York’s Civil Division and Associate Director John Riesenberg, Attaché Andrew Finkelman of U.S. Embassy Paris and former Trial Attorney Margaret O’Malley of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
排版：朱明睿
翻译：朱明睿林燕璇
审核：朱明睿林燕璇王霜李璐岑
