The way US prosecutors tell it, Huawei is a bunch of racketeers whose crimes range from stealing technology to evading sanctions against Iran. The company allegedly ran what it called a “competition management group,” whose purpose was to award monthly bonuses to employees who stole the most valuable information from competitors. Staff were invited to submit entries via a special encrypted email box.
“The entire business operated through a pattern of theft, lies and cover-ups,” according to Taylor Stout, a federal prosecutor in the Justice Department, as he laid out the government’s criminal case to jurors. The trial of China’s global technology champion, whose revenue hit $127 billion last year, got underway in a Brooklyn court this month and is expected to last well into the new year, with Huawei potentially facing enormous fines.
