US judge dismisses indictment against Huawei CFO that strained relations with China
A US District Judge dismissed Meng Wanzhou's indictment with prejudice
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A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed an indictment against Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co., ending a criminal sanctions saga that strained U.S.-China relations.
Wanzhou's arrest in Canada in December 2018 triggered a global standoff between China and the U.S.
Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, gets out of a vehicle outside a hotel during a break from her extradition hearing, in Vancouver, on Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP / AP Newsroom)
The telecommunications company executive was released after U.S. prosecutors agreed that Wanzhou had abided by the terms of her deferred prosecution agreement.
"It is hereby ordered that the third superseding indictment in the above-captioned matter as to the defendant Wanzhou Meng is hereby dismissed with prejudice," District Judge Ann Donnelly said in a written decision.
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Prosecutors accused Wanzhou of bank fraud and other crimes for misleading HSBC Holdings Plc and other banks about Huawei's relationship with a company that operated in Iran.
They said Wanzhou's actions put banks at risk of penalties for processing transactions that violated U.S. sanctions.
Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou flew home to China on Friday after reaching an agreement with U.S. prosecutors to end the bank fraud case against her, relieving a point of tension between China and the United States. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP / AP Newsroom)
Huawei has pleaded not guilty to related U.S. criminal charges.
A lawyer for Wanzhou and her spokeswoman did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
Wanzhou spent nearly three years under house arrest in Canada following her arrest at a Vancouver airport.
She entered a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors in Sept. 2021 in which she acknowledged having made false statements about Huawei's Iran business- Skycom Tech Co Ltd.
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On the day Donnelly approved that agreement, Wanzhou flew home to Shenzhen.
Her return was met with a flag-waving group of airline employees and was carried live on state TV.
This screen grab made from video released on September 25, 2021, by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV shows Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou receiving flowers after she arrived following her release, in Shenzhen in China's southern Guangdong province. (CCTV/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Meng Wanzhou waves at a cheering crowd as she steps out of a charter plane at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 25, 2021. | Getty Images
Wanzhou thanked the ruling Communist Party and Xi Jinping for supporting her through her more than 1,000 days of house arrest in Vancouver, where she owns two multimillion-dollar mansions.
"I have finally returned to the warm embrace of the motherland," Wanzhou said. "As an ordinary Chinese citizen going through this difficult time, I always felt the warmth and concern of the party, the nation and the people."
Shortly afterward, China released two Canadians it had been holding, and two American siblings who had been prevented from leaving the country were allowed to fly home.
Wanzhou, 50, now serves as Huawei's rotating chairwoman and deputy chairwoman, as well as CFO.
The United States still views Huawei as a national security threat.
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On Nov. 25, the Biden administration banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from Huawei and China's ZTE Corp. because they posed an "unacceptable risk" to national security.