FBI Agent Tells Huawei Jury About 2007 Late-Night Interview With Founder Ren Zhengfei
NEW YORK — In the criminal trial of Huawei in Brooklyn federal court, former FBI agent Timothy Lucey told jurors on October 15 about a late-night interview he conducted in 2007 with Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei. Huawei faces racketeering-conspiracy and related charges, which the company denies; Judge Ann Donnelly is presiding, and the trial opened in September.
Lucey testified that agents, after failing all day on July 11, 2007 to get Ren alone, called his room at the St. Regis hotel in Midtown Manhattan in the early hours and asked him to come downstairs. Ren said he had a 6 a.m. flight but agreed to meet, accompanied by two female associates. The interview lasted 45 minutes to an hour in a lounge area of the hotel lobby, conducted through an FBI Mandarin language specialist. Ren showed his Chinese passport and a business card identifying him as chief executive and president of Huawei Technologies. "He was pleasant. He was cooperative," Lucey said.
Asked whether Ren had said Huawei dealt directly with any Iranian company, Lucey answered: "He indicated that they did not directly deal with Iranian companies." Ren also indicated that Huawei protects intellectual property rights. Lucey added that Ren himself first raised an incident the agents had planned to ask about — a Huawei employee caught photographing a competitor's equipment at a trade show a few years earlier. The trial is continuing and the jury has not reached a verdict.
Sources: Law360 trial coverage; The Bureau trial reporting
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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