Huawei Seeks to Dismiss U.S. Lawsuit Due to Insufficient Evidence

As a last move, Huawei Technologies requested a significant part of a federal indictment accusing the Chinese telecommunications giant of attempting to steal trade secrets from American competitors and misleading banks about its operations in Iran to be dismissed by a U.S. judge. In a legal filing made Friday evening in a federal court in Brooklyn, Huawei argued that the conspiracy allegations were baseless and characterized the charges as a result of the Justice Department's "groundless" China Initiative aimed at prosecuting individuals and entities connected to China.

Maintaining its innocence, Huawei pointed out that many of the allegations pertained to activities occurring outside the United States. The company also stated that the bank fraud claims were based on a "control fraud" theory that had been dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in another case last year. Huawei's statement was clear: "The government approached Huawei as a prosecution target in search of a crime." A hearing for this case is scheduled for January 5, 2026.

Based in Shenzhen and operating in over 170 countries with approximately 207,000 employees, the company is under scrutiny by U.S. authorities. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn declined to comment on Monday. Huawei's legal team did not respond immediately to requests for further comments.

The legal battle dates back to 2018, the same year that Huawei's Chief Financial Officer and the founder's daughter, Meng Wanzhou, was detained in Canada. Charges against Meng were ultimately dropped in 2022. The China Initiative, launched in 2018 during the administration of then-President Donald Trump, aimed to combat alleged intellectual property theft by Beijing.

However, the Biden administration terminated the program four years later amid criticisms that it led to racial profiling and hindered scientific research.