HSBC probe helped lead to US charges vs Huawei

$100M Transactions cleared related to Skycom through the US

new york/london — An internal investigation by HSBC Holdings into Huawei Technologies’ connections to a suspected front company in Iran found that the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker maintained close financial ties to the firm years after purportedly selling the unit, documents reviewed by Reuters show.

The HSBC probe of Huawei came in late-2016 and 2017 as the bank was trying to get the US Department of Justice to dismiss criminal charges for the bank’s own misconduct involving US sanctions.

The bank’s findings, which have not been made public, were given in a series of presentations in 2017 to the DoJ. The department used them to help bring its current criminal case against Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou. She is accused of conspiring to defraud HSBC and other banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s relationship with the suspected front company, Skycom Tech.

US authorities allege Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed US goods and technology in Iran and to move money out of the country via the international banking system. As a result of Huawei’s deception, US authorities allege, HSBC and other banks cleared more than $100 million of transactions related to Skycom through the US that potentially violated economic sanctions Washington had in place at the time against doing business with Iran. —