US judge says China's Huawei Technologies must face criminal case for racketeering and other charges
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly on Tuesday rejected Huawei's request to dismiss the allegations in a 16-count federal indictment against the company, saying in a 52-page ruling that its arguments were premature.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. accuses Huawei and some of its subsidiaries of plotting to steal U.S. trade secrets, installing surveillance equipment that enabled Iran to spy on protesters during 2009 anti-government demonstrations in Iran, and of doing business in North Korea despite U.S. sanctions there.
During President Donald Trump's first term in office, his administration raised national security concerns and began lobbying Western allies against including Huawei in their wireless, high-speed networks.
In its January 2019 indictment, the Justice Department accused Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions and charged its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, with fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company's business dealings in Iran.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested in Canada in late 2018 on a U.S. extradition request but released in September 2021 in a high-stakes prisoner swap that freed two Canadians held by China and allowed her to return home.
Chinese officials have accused the U.S. government of 'economic bullying' and of improperly using national security as a pretext for 'oppressing Chinese companies.' In their motion to dismiss the broad criminal case, among other arguments Huawei's lawyers contended that the U.S. allegations were too vague and some were 'impermissibly extraterritorial,' and do not involve domestic wire and bank fraud.
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The biggest maker of network gear, Huawei struggled to hold onto its market share under sanctions that have blocked its access to most U.S. processor chips and other technology. The limits led it to ramp up its own development of computer chips and other advanced technologies.
The company also shifted its focus to the Chinese market and to network technology for hospitals, factories and other industrial customers and other products that would not be affected by U.S. sanctions.
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What we learned from the hearing Kohberger's cell phone began connecting with cell towers in the area of the crime more than four months before the stabbings, Thompson said, and pinged on those towers 23 times between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. in that time period. A compilation of surveillance videos from neighbors and businesses also placed Kohberger's vehicle — known to investigators because of a routine traffic stop by police in August — in the area. On the night of the killings, Kohberger parked behind the house and entered through a sliding door to the kitchen at the back of the house shortly after 4 a.m., Thompson said. He moved to the third floor, where Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were sleeping. After killing both of them with a knife, Kohberger left a knife sheath next to Mogen's body. Both victims' blood was later found on the sheath, along with DNA from a single male that ultimately helped investigators pinpoint Kohberger as the only suspect. On the floor below, another student was still awake. Xana Kernodle had ordered Door Dash not long before, and as Kohberger was leaving, he crossed paths with her and killed her with a large knife, Thompson said. He then killed her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, who was sleeping in Kernodle's bedroom. Kohberger left two others in the house alive, including one roommate who was expected to testify at trial that sometime before 4:19 a.m. she saw an intruder there with 'bushy eyebrows,' wearing black clothing and a ski mask. Roughly five minutes later, the car could be seen on the next-door neighbor's surveillance camera. speeding away so fast 'the car almost loses control as it makes the corner,' Thompson said. What did Kohberger do next? After Kohberger fled the scene, Thompson said, his cover-up was elaborate. 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The Q-tip that broke the case Investigators had honed in on Kohberger, but they needed to prove he was their suspect. With the DNA of a single mystery male on the knife sheath, they worked with the FBI and the local sanitation department to secretly retrieve garbage from the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger's parents, seeking a DNA match to their suspect. 'They conducted what's called a trash pull during the nighttime hours,' Thompson said, and 'took trash that had been set out on the street for collection' and sent it to Idaho's forensics lab. The pile of garbage yielded investigative gold: A Q-tip that contained DNA identified 'as coming from the father of the person whose DNA was found on the knife sheath that was found by Madison Mogen's body on the bed,' he said. With that, Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he had gone for the holidays, and ultimately was extradited to Idaho for prosecution. 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