U.S. Gov charges Huawei with federal racketeering & conspiracy to steal trade secrets from American companies

The U.S. government has charged Huawei and two of its subsidiary companies with federal racketeering as well as conspiracy to steal trade secrets from American companies. This is a significant escalation in the American administration’s legal fight with the Chinese telecommunications company.

In a federal indictment are accusations that Huawei and its affiliates performed a “pattern of racketeering activity” and said the companies had worked to steal trade secrets from six American firms. The stolen information included source code, as well as the manuals for wireless technology. The indictment did not identify the six companies. The Justice Department said in its news release “The new charges, in this case, relate to the alleged decades-long efforts by Huawei, and several of its subsidiaries, both in the U.S. and in the People’s Republic of China, to misappropriate intellectual property, including from six U.S. technology companies, in an effort to grow and operate Huawei’s business,”.

Huawei already barred from buying many American products and is viewed by the Trump administration as a threat to national security. All of this comes in the face of Boris Johnson ignoring these repeated calls from President Trump as he allowed Huawei a limited but considerable role in role out of Britain’s 5G network. Only on Monday, four members of China’s military were charged in America with hacking into Equifax, one of the USA’s largest credit reporting agencies, and stealing trade secrets and the personal data of about 145 million Americans in 2017.

For many years American intelligence officials have tried to convince companies and governments around the world that Huawei’s equipment could give Beijing access to sensitive communications networks. Rumored to be following Britain’s move is Germany who are said to be close to a decision on whether to allow the company to work on its 5G network. Attorney General William P. Barr has argued that the United States should consider providing direct or indirect financial support to Nokia and Ericsson, two European companies that are the primary competitors to Huawei’s networking gear.