Racketeering conspiracy trial against Chinese tech giant Huawei begins in New York

A racketeering conspiracy trial of Huawei Technologies began in New York with federal prosecutors accusing the Chinese tech company of a litany of crimes, including stealing technology from American companies, abusing the U.S. financial system and helping Iran snoop on its citizens.

NEW YORK — A racketeering conspiracy trial of Huawei Technologies began in New York on Wednesday with federal prosecutors accusing the Chinese tech company of a litany of crimes, including stealing technology from American companies, abusing the U.S. financial system and helping Iran snoop on its citizens.

Huawei is the world’s biggest supplier of gear for wireless telecom networks, but it is banned from selling equipment to U.S. carriers over fears it poses a security risk. It has also been blacklisted by other Western allies, including Canada and Britain.

Taylor Stout, a Department of Justice attorney, opened the government’s case by telling the Brooklyn jury that Huawei committed multiple crimes over two decades.

Defense attorney Brian Heberlig dismissed the accusations, though, saying prosecutors were basing their case on a smattering of anecdotes and some bad behavior by a few of Huawei’s roughly 200,000 employees in 170 countries to cast the company and three of its subsidiaries as a corrupt criminal enterprise.

“There was no blueprint for crime,” Heberlig said, noting that jurors should keep in mind that there were “real people whose careers, integrity are on the line in this case.”