Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecom equipment maker, is now sitting in a Brooklyn courtroom facing criminal charges that have been hanging over the company for the better part of a decade. Jury selection began on September 8 in the Eastern District of New York, kicking off what’s expected to be a three-to-six month trial.
The company, which reported $127 billion in revenue in 2025 and operates in over 170 countries, has pleaded not guilty to between 12 and 14 counts.
What Huawei is actually accused of
The original indictment, handed down in 2018 as part of the Trump administration’s China Initiative targeting corporate espionage, paints a picture of a company operating as a racketeering enterprise.
At the heart of the case are two main threads. First, prosecutors allege Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to push more than $100 million in US dollar transactions through the banking system in violation of sanctions on Iran. Second, the government claims Huawei engaged in a conspiracy to steal trade secrets from American companies.
