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U.S. Judge Rules Huawei Must Face Criminal Charges in Technology Theft and Bank Fraud Case

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A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected Huawei Technologies’ attempt to dismiss most charges in a U.S. criminal case accusing the Chinese telecom giant of stealing technology secrets and misleading banks about its activities in Iran. In a detailed 52-page ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly upheld sufficient allegations from a 16-count indictment, including racketeering, theft of trade secrets from six companies, and bank fraud.

The indictment also alleges that Huawei covertly controlled Skycom, a Hong Kong-based company, which conducted business in Iran. Prosecutors claim Skycom operated effectively as Huawei’s Iranian subsidiary, benefiting indirectly from over $100 million transferred through the U.S. financial system in violation of sanctions.

Huawei has pleaded not guilty and sought to dismiss 13 counts, calling the case “a prosecutorial target in search of a crime.” The trial is set for May 4, 2026, and may last several months.

This high-profile case began in 2018 under the Trump administration’s China Initiative, which aimed to combat intellectual property theft by Chinese entities. Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, detained in Canada for nearly three years, had charges dismissed in 2022. The Biden administration ended the China Initiative amid criticism of racial profiling and chilling effects on research.

Huawei, headquartered in Shenzhen, operates in over 170 countries with approximately 208,000 employees. The U.S. has restricted Huawei’s access to American technology since 2019 over national security concerns, which Huawei denies.

Former Google Engineer Faces New Charges for Stealing AI Secrets for Chinese Companies

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A former Google software engineer, Linwei Ding, has been hit with a new 14-count indictment, accusing him of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets to benefit two Chinese companies. Ding, 38, a Chinese national, was charged by a federal grand jury in San Francisco with seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets. The charges stem from his actions during his time at Google, where he allegedly stole sensitive information related to the company’s supercomputing data centers, which are crucial for training large AI models.

Each economic espionage charge carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence and a $5 million fine, while each theft of trade secrets charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ding was originally indicted in March 2023 on four counts of theft of trade secrets. He remains free on bond as his case proceeds. His defense lawyers have not yet commented.

The case is part of a broader initiative by the Biden administration, known as the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, which was launched in 2023 to prevent advanced technology from being acquired by adversarial countries like China and Russia. According to prosecutors, Ding began stealing proprietary information in 2022, after being recruited by a Chinese startup, and allegedly uploaded more than 1,000 confidential files before May 2023. These files reportedly included chip blueprints aimed at giving Google an edge in the competitive cloud computing industry, particularly against rivals like Amazon and Microsoft, as well as reducing its reliance on Nvidia chips.

Ding’s alleged thefts were discovered when he circulated a PowerPoint presentation detailing his plans for China’s AI industry to employees of the startup he co-founded. Google has not been charged and has cooperated with law enforcement throughout the investigation.

The case is being closely watched and may go to trial, although discussions have been held about a potential resolution.