New York (CNN Business)Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is expected to appear in a Brooklyn court Friday to plead guilty to US charges as part of a deal that would allow her to return to China, a person briefed on the matter told CNN. The plea would end a nearly three-year legal saga that has complicated relations between the United States, China and Canada.
The US case centers on whether Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, misled HSBC about Huawei’s relationship with an Iranian subsidiary, Skycom, which the US alleges could have put the bank at risk of sanctions violations. The Department of Justice submitted a letter to District Judge Ann Donnelly on Friday acknowledging that it would address “a resolution of the charges against the defendant in this matter” at a hearing later in the day.
Huawei and Meng’s team previously denied these allegations, saying that HSBC executives knew of Huawei’s relationships with Skycom. They have also claimed that the US case — which was filed amid former President Donald Trump’s trade war with China — was politically motivated.
Meng was arrested in December 2018 at the Vancouver airport at the behest of the US government. She has been living under house arrest in her multimillion-dollar homes in the city as proceedings to extradite her to stand trial in the United States work their way through Canadian courts. Meng’s team has also opposed extradition; their arguments include claims that Meng’s rights were violated during her arrest at the airport. Read More
The extradition proceedings have been nearing their end. Last month, hearings in the case concluded and Canadian Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said she would announce the date for her ruling on whether Meng should be extradited in a court appearance on October 21. The Justice Department reportedly offered a resolution last year to the standoff that ensnared Canada over the US charges against her.
Source: edition.cnn.com