A racketeering conspiracy trial against Huawei Technologies began in New York on Wednesday with federal prosecutors accusing the Chinese tech company of a litany of crimes, including stealing technology from American companies, abusing the US financial system and helping Iran snoop on its citizens. Huawei is the world's biggest supplier of gear for wireless telecom networks, but it is banned from selling equipment to US carriers over fears it poses a security risk.
It has also been blacklisted by other Western allies, including Canada and Britain. Taylor Stout, a Department of Justice attorney, opened the government's case by telling the Brooklyn jury that Huawei committed multiple crimes over two decades. Defence attorney Brian Heberlig dismissed the accusations, though, saying prosecutors were basing their case on a smattering of anecdotes and some bad behaviour by a few of Huawei's roughly 200,000 employees in 170 countries to cast the company and three of its subsidiaries as a .
