Documents name Citigroup, BNP in U.S. case against Huawei CFO
Information revealed at B.C. court hearing
• U. S.- based Citigroup and French bank BNP Paribas are caught up in the U. S. criminal case against the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, according to newly available documents.
The banks were named in documents released on Tuesday after a hearing in British Columbia Supreme Court where Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is fighting extradition to the United States on bank fraud charges.
The two are among at least four financial institutions that had banking relationships with Huawei when Meng and others allegedly misled them about its business dealings in Iran despite U.S. sanctions.
Two others, HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered, have been previously reported.
The banks are considered “vic tim” institutions in the 13- count indictment the United States brought against Meng and Huawei, which includes charges of bank and wire fraud, violating sanctions against Iran and obstructing justice.
Both she and Huawei have denied wrongdoing.
Representatives for the four banks did not immediately respond to emails from Reuters seeking comment. But Standard Chartered, Citigroup and BNP Paribas have previously declined to comment when asked by Reuters about their possible involvement in the Huawei case.
The court allowed the materials, including video of Meng’s arrest, to be made public in advance of a hearing scheduled to begin Sept. 23 in Vancouver.
In one document released on Tuesday, the United States describes the evidence against Meng, including articles published by Reuters in 2012 and 2013 about a company in Iran called Skycom Tech that had tried to sell computer equipment by a U. S. company to a customer in Iran.
The reporting detailed links between Huawei and Skycom, including that Meng had served on Skycom’s board of directors between February 2008 and April 2009.
The articles were “concerning” to at least four financial institutions that banked for Huawei, according to the document, which was drafted by a U. S. federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, where the case was brought against Meng and Huawei.
U. S. laws and regulations generally prohibited the banks from providing U. S. dollar transactions tied to Iran through the United States.
Meng and others de - frauded HSBC and other banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s relationship with Skycom, according to U. S. prosecutors who claim Skycom’s operations in Iran were controlled by Huawei from at least 2007 until 2014.
U. S. authorities claim Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed U. S. goods, technology and services in Iran, and to move money via the international banking system.