Wanzhou Meng (“Meng”), also known as “Cathy Meng” and “Sabrina Meng,”
is the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (
Huawei”), a corporation organized under the laws of the People’s Republic
of China (“PRC”) and the world’s largest telecommunications equipment
company. Meng is a citizen of the PRC and a daughter of Huawei’s founder,
Ren Zhengfei. In addition to her role as CFO, Meng currently serves as
Huawei’s Deputy Chairwoman of the Board, and serves or has served in
various roles at other Huawei subsidiaries and affiliates. Meng also served
on the board of Hong Kong-based Skycom Tech Co. Ltd. (“Skycom”) in or
about and between February 2008 and April 2009. According to financial
statements for Skycom for the years 2009 and 2010, the “principal
activities of Skycom were engaged in [sic] investment holding and acting as
a contractor for contracts undertaking [sic] in Iran.”
According to information obtained through an investigation by U.S.
authorities, including the following, Huawei operated Skycom as an
unofficial subsidiary to conduct business in Iran while concealing Skycom’s
link to Huawei. In this manner and as explained in further detail below,
Huawei could conceal the nature of certain business it was conducting in and
related to Iran, which is generally considered a high-risk jurisdiction.
Former employees of Skycom have stated, in sum and substance, that Skycom
was not distinct from Huawei. For example, Skycom employees had Huawei email
addresses and badges, individuals working in Iran used different sets of
stationery (“Huawei” and “Skycom”) for different business purposes, and
the leadership of Skycom in Iran were Huawei employees;
Documents show that multiple Skycom bank accounts were controlled by Huawei
employees, and Huawei employees were signatories on these accounts between
2007 and 2013;
Documents show that a purportedly unrelated entity to which Skycom was
supposedly “sold” in 2009 was actually also controlled by Huawei until at
least in or about 2014.
Transactional records and other documents obtained by U.S. authorities
further demonstrate that Huawei operated Skycom as an unofficial subsidiary
to conduct business in Iran while concealing Skycom’s link to Huawei. Among
other things, records obtained through the investigation show that Skycom
was used to transact telecommunications business in Iran for major Iranian-
based telecommunications companies.
The investigation by U.S. authorities has revealed a conspiracy between and
among Meng and other Huawei representatives to misrepresent to numerous
multinational financial institutions, including a global financial
institution which conducts business in the United States (“Financial
Institution 1”), Huawei’s business practices, particularly Huawei’s
control of Skycom in or about and between 2009 and 2014. Specifically, Meng
and other Huawei representatives repeatedly lied about the nature of the
relationship between Huawei and Skycom and the fact that Skycom operated as
Huawei’s Iran-based affiliate in order to continue to obtain banking
services from multinational financial institutions.
The motivation for these misrepresentations stemmed from Huawei’s need to
move money out of countries that are subject to U.S. or E.U. sanctions –
such as Iran, Syria, or Sudan – through the international banking system.
At various times, both the U.S. and E.U. legal regimes have imposed
sanctions that prohibit the provision of U.S. or E.U. services to Iran, such
as banking services. Of particular relevance, companies such as Huawei
operating in sanctioned countries often need to repatriate income out of
those countries by relying on U.S.-dollar clearing transactions, which
typically pass through the United States, or Euro-clearing transactions,
which typically pass through E.U. countries. Huawei was a customer of
Financial Institution 1 and the other victim institutions, and conducted a
significant amount of its international banking activity, including U.S.-
dollar-clearing transactions, with Financial Institution 1. The financial
institutions at issue, including Financial Institution 1, maintained
policies by which they would not onboard Iran-based clients or process Iran-
related transactions through the United States, so as to avoid exposure to U
.S. civil and criminal liability. In response to due diligence inquiries by
the banks regarding these internal policies, Meng and other Huawei
representatives repeated stated that Huawei did not operate Skycom and that,
with respect to Financial Institution 1, Huawei would not use Financial
Institution 1 to process any Iran-related transactions.
Because Meng and other Huawei representatives misrepresented to Financial
Institution 1 and the other financial institutions about Huawei’s
relationship with Skycom, these victim banking institutions were induced
into carrying out transactions that they otherwise would not have completed.
As a result, they violated the banks’ internal policies, potentially
violated U.S. sanctions laws, and exposed the banks to the risk of fines and
forfeiture. In particular, these relationships included the clearing of
hundreds of millions of U.S.-dollar transactions through correspondent
accounts at financial institutions in Eurozone countries. In essence, these
misrepresentations exposed the financial institutions to serious harm and
denied the institutions the opportunity to make decisions based on the true
risk of processing certain transaction and the reputations risk associated
with banking high-risk clients such as Huawei.
For example, during the relevant timeframe, Financial Institution 1 was
under investigation for U.S. sanctions violations involving Iran and later
entered into a deferred prosecution agreement pertaining to U.S. sanctions
violations involving Iran, and could therefore have suffered criminal
consequences for processing Huawei’s Iran-based transactions.
For example, after the Reuters articles were published, Financial
Institution 1 requested that Huawei provide further information and
clarification regarding the relationship of Huawei and Skycom. Although
those inquiries were not addressed to Meng, on or about August 2013, Meng
arranged for a meeting with an executive of Financial Institution 1, and
during that meeting, made a number of misrepresentations to an executive of
Financial Institution 1.
During that meeting, Meng used an English interpreter and relied on a
PowerPoint presentation written in Chinese. Meng stated that she was using
an interpreter to be precise with her language. After the meeting, an
executive from Financial Institution 1 asked for an English language version
of Meng’s PowerPoint presentation. Meng arranged for hand delivery of the
document to Financial Institution 1 on or about September 3, 2013. The
PowerPoint presentation included numerous untrue or misleading
representations regarding Huawei’s ownership and control of Skycom and
Huawei’s compliance with applicable U.S. laws. For example:
Meng stated that “Huawei operates in Iran in strict compliance with
applicable laws, regulations and sanctions of UN, US and EU,” although
Skycom was using the U.S. financial system to conduct prohibited Iran-
related transactions;
Meng stated that “Huawei’s engagement with Skycom is normal business
cooperation. Through its trade compliance organization and process, Huawei
requires Skycom to make commitments on observing applicable laws,
regulations and export control requirements.” However, as discussed above,
Huawei did not “cooperate” with Skycom; Skycom was entirely controlled by
Huawei;
Meng Stated that “Huawei was once a shareholder of Skycom, and I [Meng] was
once a member of Skycom’s Board of Directors. Holding shares and a BOD
position was meant to better manage our partner and help Skycom to better
comply with relevant managerial requirements.” However, as discussed above,
there were no “Skycom” employees who were managed by Huawei; Skycom
employees were Huawei employees;
Meng stated that “As there was no process or organization at Skycom, Board
supervision was the only way to ensure trade compliance. Holding shares or
assigning Board member could help Huawei to better understand Skycom’s
financial results and business performance, and to strengthen and monitor
Skycom’s compliance.” As discussed above, even while Meng was on the Board
, Huawei did not “monitor” Skycom’s compliance – Skycom’s “employees”
were effectively Huawei employees who used Huawei email addresses.
Meng stated that “Huawei has sold all its shares in Skycom, and I [Meng]
also quit my position on the Skycom Board.” As discussed, that statement
was highly misleading because Huawei sold its shares in Skycom to a company
also controlled by Huawei.
Not only did Meng give this presentation herself, but both the written
presentation and her oral statements to the executive of Financial
Institution 1 refer to Meng in the first person, using the word “I”,
indicating Meng’s personal knowledge of the facts surrounding her
statements.
Following Meng’s presentation, several Financial Institution 1 risk
committees relied in part upon Meng’s representations to continue banking
Huawei. For example:
A briefing paper from in or about November 2013 stated, “Huawei confirms
that Skycom is a business partner of Huawei and works with Huawei in sales
and services in Iran.” The minutes for the meeting reflect, “Huawei
advised [Financial Institution 1] that its shareholding in Skycom was sold
in 2009 and that Cathy Meng (CFO Huawei) resigned her position on the board
of Skycom in April 2009 … [T]he committee agreed to RETAIN the relationship
with Huawei …”
Similar statements are in risk committee briefings from in or about February
2014 and March 2014. All of the committees relied on Meng’s statements,
and none of these committees took adverse action related to the Huawei
relationship with Financial Institution 1.
An executive at Financial Institution 1 stated that Financial Institution 1
’s risk committee decided to retain Huawei as a client because “Huawei
sold Skycom and the Huawei Chief Financial Officer (CFO) was no longer on
the Skycom board.” The executive further said that, had Huawei not actually
sold Skycom, such a fact would have been “material” to deciding to exit
the client relationship.
On or about April 15, 2015, a Financial Institution 1 reputational risk
committee met in New York City to discuss whether to begin providing banking
services to a Huawei U.S. subsidiary. Meng’s statement about Huawei’s
sale of Skycom was presented to that committee, along with other information
. The committee declined to provide banking services to the Huawei U.S.
subsidiary.
The misrepresentations personally made by Meng were part of a broader
conspiracy to misrepresent the relationship between Huawei and Skycom. Other
Huawei employees and representatives made similar misrepresentations to
Financial Institution 1 and to at least three other global financial
institutions. For example, a reputational risk report from one of those
financial institutions states that “Huawei has stated that Skycom is a HK [
Hong Kong] local business partner and has no further affiliation with Huawei
.” Some of these misrepresentations were made, involved, or resulted in
interstate and foreign wire transmissions.
Wanzhou Meng is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China born on
February 13, 1972. She is believed to reside in China. She is traveling to
Vancouver, Canada on Saturday, December 1, 2018, on Cathay Pacific (CX)
Flight 838, in transit to a third country, believed to be Mexico. She is
scheduled to arrive at Vancouver International Airport at approximately 11:
30 AM, PST. Meng will be traveling on a Hong Kong passport bearing passport
number KJ0403962. The photograph attached to the Request for Provisional
Arrest was obtained from a publicly available website for HUAWEI
TECHNOLOGIES CO. LTD, which represents the person depicted as Ms. Wanzhou
Meng (Sabrina Meng), the Deputy Chairwoman, and CFO.
The United States first obtained information regarding Meng’s travel to
Canada on November 29, 2018. U.S. authorities believe, based on the totality
of circumstances, that unless Meng is provisionally arrested in Canada on
Saturday, December 1, 2018, while in transit, it will be extremely difficult
, if not impossible, to secure her presence in the United States for
prosecution. The United States has no extradition treaty with the People’s
Republic of China, and Meng, who is the CFO of one of China’s major
corporate entities and the daughter of its founder, has significant assets
at her disposal. She has the ability to travel and remain outside of the
United States indefinitely.
U.S. authorities believe that after in or about April 2017, Huawei became
aware of a U.S. criminal investigation of Huawei when Huawei’s U.S.
subsidiaries were served with a grand jury subpoena commanding production of
, among other materials, all records of Huawei’s Iran-based business. As a
result, Huawei executives began altering their travel patterns, to avoid any
travel to or through the United States. Specifically, high-level Huawei
executives, including Meng, have ceased traveling to the United States.
Although Meng previously traveled to the United States multiple times in
2014, 2015, and 2016, her last trip to the United States was from late
February through early March 2017. Meng has not come the United States since
then. Moreover, another senior Huawei executive came to the United States
at least four times between 2013 and 2016, and has not traveled to the
United States since then.