US judge lets prosecutors use Meng Wanzhou admissions at Huawei trial
A U.S. district judge has ruled that prosecutors may use Meng Wanzhou’s 2021 admissions in the criminal case against Huawei, raising the evidentiary stakes in a long-running prosecution over alleged bank fraud, sanctions breaches, racketeering and trade-secret theft. The U.S. Justice Department said in 2021 that Meng, Huawei’s chief financial officer, agreed to a deferred prosecution statement of facts about representations made to a global financial institution over Huawei-linked business in Iran; the charges against Meng were later dismissed, but the company’s case continued. Huawei denies wrongdoing and has argued in court that U.S. claims are overbroad and improperly extraterritorial. For Europe, the ruling lands in a wider fight over whether Chinese technology suppliers should remain inside critical networks, an issue the European Commission has tied to 5G security and high-risk vendors.
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The Iran Conflict: Nuclear, Regional and Diplomatic
The decades-long confrontation between Iran and its adversaries — the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and proxies across the region — covering the nuclear file, sanctions, the JCPOA collapse, the post-October 2023 escalation, and current diplomatic openings.
About this story
Meng Wanzhou (Huawei chief financial officer, born 1972, daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei) became the public face of the case after her 2018 arrest in Canada. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (Shenzhen-based Chinese telecoms and technology group founded in 1987) is the corporate defendant. Skycom Tech Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong company active in Iran, described by U.S. prosecutors as Huawei-controlled) sits at the centre of the Iran-related allegations. HSBC (global bank headquartered in London and Hong Kong) is the financial institution prosecutors say was misled. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly (federal judge in the Eastern District of New York) is overseeing the Brooklyn criminal case. The U.S. Justice Department (federal law-enforcement department) brought the prosecution. The EU 5G Toolbox (European cybersecurity framework adopted in 2020) guides member states on high-risk telecom suppliers.
How to read this story
The history
The U.S. Justice Department charged Huawei and Meng in January 2019 over alleged bank and wire fraud linked to Iran sanctions. In February 2020, the Justice Department added racketeering and trade-secret allegations against Huawei and subsidiaries. Meng entered a deferred prosecution agreement on 24 September 2021, and the Justice Department moved to dismiss her charges after the deferral period ended in December 2022. In July 2025, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly rejected Huawei’s bid to dismiss the broader indictment, allowing the corporate case to proceed toward trial.
The geopolitics
Huawei has become a proxy for the wider U.S.-China technology contest: Washington uses export controls, sanctions and prosecutions; Beijing presents those measures as containment of Chinese companies. Europe is caught between security alignment with the United States, dependence on global telecom supply chains and the cost of replacing equipment in critical networks.
Why now
The story is timely because the U.S. court has made an evidentiary ruling before Huawei’s corporate criminal trial, deciding that a 2021 statement by Meng Wanzhou can be placed before jurors.
What to watch
The next signals are trial scheduling, any further motions limiting how prosecutors may use Meng’s statement, and whether Huawei seeks an interlocutory appeal or settlement talks. In Europe, watch whether proposed supplier-risk measures move through the European Parliament and Council.
International angle
The case sits at the intersection of U.S. sanctions enforcement, China’s global technology reach and Europe’s security screening of telecom infrastructure. For Brussels-based EU institutions, it reinforces a familiar policy problem: how to distinguish criminal evidence, supplier-risk management and broader strategic competition without turning each into a substitute for the other.
What this means for you
Nothing changes immediately for Belgian consumers’ phones or internet service. The practical takeaway is for telecom operators, public buyers and compliance teams: U.S. legal proceedings can influence supplier-risk assessments, sanctions screening and contract reviews even when the underlying infrastructure decisions are made under EU and Belgian rules.
What happens next
The corporate case against Huawei is expected to continue in the Eastern District of New York unless the parties reach a settlement or the court narrows the charges before trial. Lawyers could still dispute how Meng’s statement is presented to jurors. EU policymakers will separately keep advancing supplier-risk rules for telecoms and other critical sectors.
Potential consequences
If Meng’s admissions carry weight at trial, they could make it harder for Huawei to separate the company from the conduct prosecutors attribute to senior management. A conviction or damaging evidentiary record could reinforce political pressure in Europe to restrict Chinese suppliers. If Huawei successfully limits the evidence or prevails, it would strengthen arguments that security policy should not be driven by unresolved U.S. allegations.
Opposing perspectives
- U.S. prosecutors
The U.S. Justice Department’s 2021 statement frames Meng’s admissions as evidence that senior Huawei figures misrepresented the company’s Iran-linked business to preserve banking access. From this perspective, admitting the statement of facts at trial helps show corporate knowledge and a pattern of deception rather than an isolated executive episode.
- Huawei Technologies
Huawei’s court position, as reflected in prior dismissal arguments, is that the U.S. case overreaches: the company has denied the allegations and argued that parts of the indictment are vague, premature or improperly extraterritorial. The strongest version of that view is that a geopolitical dispute is being converted into a criminal case.
- European Commission security policymakers
The European Commission’s 5G security material treats supplier trust as a systemic infrastructure question, not only a criminal-law question. From this view, the Huawei case is another data point in assessing high-risk suppliers, but EU decisions should still rest on proportional cybersecurity rules and member-state implementation.
Timeline
- 2018-12-01·Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request.
- 2019-01-28·The U.S. Justice Department announced fraud charges against Huawei and Meng.
- 2020-02-13·The U.S. Justice Department announced racketeering and trade-secret allegations against Huawei and subsidiaries.
- 2021-09-24·Meng entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.
- 2022-12-02·A U.S. court dismissed the charges against Meng after the deferral period ended.
- 2025-07-01·U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly rejected Huawei’s bid to dismiss the broader corporate criminal case.
- 2026-06-17·A U.S. judge ruled that Meng’s admissions may be used at Huawei’s criminal trial.
Glossary
- Deferred prosecution agreement
- A legal arrangement in which prosecutors suspend a case if the defendant meets agreed conditions, often for a fixed period.
- EU 5G Toolbox
- A 2020 EU cybersecurity framework advising member states on risk measures for 5G networks, including supplier-risk assessment.
- High-risk supplier
- EU policy shorthand for a telecom or technology provider considered to pose elevated security or dependency risks.
- Extraterritoriality
- The application of one country’s law to conduct or actors outside its territory.
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This briefing was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by a Belgium Impulse editor before publication. methodology.