U.S. charges China\'s Huawei with bank fraud

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) The United States on Monday charged China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, its chief financial officer and two affiliates with bank and wire fraud to violate sanctions against Iran in a case that has escalated tensions with Beijing.

In a 13-count indictment filed in New York, the Justice Department said Huawei misled a global bank and U.S. authorities about its relationship with the subsidiaries, Skycom Tech and Huawei Device USA Inc, in order to conduct business in Iran.

In a separate case, the Justice Department also accused two Huawei subsidiaries of 10 counts of stealing trade secrets, wire fraud and obstructing justice for allegedly stealing robotic technology from carrier T-Mobile US Inc to test smartphones' durability.

Those charges were filed in the western district of Washington state.

Huawei did not respond to requests for comments on the charges.

T-Mobile had accused Huawei of stealing the technology, called "Tappy," which mimicked human fingers and was used to test smartphones.

Huawei has said that the two companies settled their disputes in 2017.

The charges in both cases add to U.S. pressure on Huawei, the world's biggest telecommunications equipment maker.