Meng Wanzhou can return to China, admits helping Huawei conceal dealings in Iran

Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou returns to a court hearing in Vancouver, B.C., on Aug. 18. (Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)

Meng Wanzhou can return to China, admits helping Huawei conceal dealings in Iran

Washington Post -By :Shayna Jacobs & Amanda Coletta

NEW YORK — Meng Wanzhou, a top Huawei Technologies executive detained for nearly three years in Canada, can return home to China after striking a deal with U.S. Justice Department officials in which she acknowledged helping to conceal the company’s direct dealings in Iran, which violated U.S. sanctions.

While Meng admitted illegal conduct to satisfy the terms of the agreement, she did not have to plead guilty as part of the deferred prosecution agreement.

Her criminal case and detention have had major geopolitical implications, further souring relations between Beijing and both Washington and Ottawa.

Western officials decried China’s subsequent arrest of two Canadian nationals in December 2018 as a flagrant display of “hostage diplomacy.”

Meng left Vancouver, B.C., on a flight for China on Friday afternoon, according to a person familiar with the matter. Hours later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the two Canadians had been released from prison and were on their way home, accompanied by Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to China.

Meng, Huawei’s chief financial officer, made a virtual appearance in a Brooklyn courtroom Friday afternoon to formalize the agreement, conceding to a statement of facts that laid out her involvement in misleading a financial institution regarding Huawei’s relationship with Skycom, which functioned as an arm of Huawei in Iran.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/huawei-meng-wanzhou-plea-deal/2021/09/24/6068d9f4-1d49-11ec-bcb8-0cb135811007_story.html