The investment banking company HSBC has framed Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou by fabricating evidence for its own interests, said some legal experts, who cast doubt on the authenticity of the bank’s claims concerning key evidence in Meng’s case.
It has been almost 20 months since her arrest in Canada for alleged crimes of bank fraud, and the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada heard arguments on Monday based on claims of privileges over documents requested by lawyers representing Meng in her extradition case.
HSBC has emerged as a key player in the case as it submitted evidence early on that included a meeting between Meng and a senior executive from HSBC at a restaurant back in 2013.
On August 22, 2013, Meng met with Alan Thomas, HSBC’s then deputy head of global banking for the Asia Pacific region, in a restaurant in Hong Kong. During that meeting, Meng made a PowerPoint presentation about Huawei’s business links in Iran through a company called Skycom and Huawei’s efforts in compliance with U.S. sanctions.
Some five years later, that presentation became key evidence in a U.S. extradition case against her, alleging that she committed fraud against HSBC and other banks, exposing them to “both economic and reputational” risks.
“We believe she is innocent and hope she will regain her freedom as soon as possible. But as her legal case is still ongoing, I am sorry I cannot make more comments about the case itself,” said Song Liuping, Huawei’s chief legal officer and chief compliance officer.
Meng is the CFO of Huawei, not the chief legal or compliance officer. It would make sense for her to talk to HSBC, but compliance matters are not under her portfolio, and by the time the presentation was made, she had no direct relationship with Skycom.
Meng told Thomas that Skycom was a business partner of Huawei in Iran. She also explained how his business activities in that country and its trade compliance program related to U.S. sanctions. HSBC still allegedly decided to retain Huawei as a customer based on her presentation.
A year before the meeting with Meng, U.S. prosecutors had charged HSBC with four crimes, including money laundering in Mexico that involved at least 880 million U.S. dollars. The bank was fined 1.9 billion U.S. dollars and had to sign a five-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) to self-rectify and cooperate with judicial investigations. This was the third time in a decade that HSBC had been punished for similar offenses.
“In the Anglo-Saxon legal system, there is what we call (plea)-bargaining (system). That means for HSBC certainly it realizes that it did something wrong. However, in order to reduce the responsibility, it should be held, and then it preferred to do something as a deal with the U.S. prosecutions, so that is quite possible,” said Zhu Wenqi, a professor of international law from the Renmin University of China.
U.S. prosecutors accused Meng of lying in order to attain financial services from HSBC. According to new evidence provided by Huawei, HSBC and its senior management were aware of Huawei’s business activities in Iran through Skycom, and it shows the bank had known the risks associated with servicing Skycom.
“We could see HSBC had closed the Skycom account. From this fact, we could see the bank should have known both Huawei and Skycom were their own customers. The evidence provided by HSBC also proved this point,” said Armstrong Chen, a senior partner of Dentons China.
“Meng Wanzhou is not inside a secret head had been on the board of directors of Skycom. And so there wasn’t any bad activities or bad mind on her part, because that’s a matter of public recognition, which the bank would have known about previously,” said Edward Lehman, a U.S. lawyer.
The relationship between Huawei and Meng with Skycom was outlined in the PowerPoint; however, that piece of information was left out in the summary by U.S. prosecutors provided to the Canadian courts.
HSBC’s compliance history has not been a perfect one. From 2006 to 2010, for instance, HSBC bank USA failed to implement an anti-money laundering program capable of adequately monitoring suspicious transactions and activities from HSBC Group Affiliates, particularly HSBC Mexico. As a result, at least 881 million U.S. dollars in drug trafficking proceeds were laundered through the system.
In December 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice announced enforcement actions on HSBC, and a deferred prosecution agreement was signed between the two sides. HSBC committed to improve compliance and cooperate fully with investigators. A compliance monitor was also appointed to the bank.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the monitor’s 2016 annual report to the Department of Justice found instances of potential financial crime and questioned whether HSBC was meeting all of its DPA obligations.
In late 2016, HSBC began to conduct an internal probe of Huawei.
In February 2017, U.S. Departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security and Justice, reportedly gathered in Washington D.C. to talk about how they would move forward against Huawei.
It’s reported that sometime later, HSBC helped authorities obtain evidence of links between Skycom and Huawei, which included the PowerPoint.
The PowerPoint presentation became the key piece of evidence of U.S. indictment of fraud against Meng. They alleged she made misrepresentations about the company’s links in Iran and compliance issues exposing HSBC to risks. But when submitting the PowerPoint as evidence to a Canadian court, an important part was left out, the part about Huawei’s efforts to comply with U.S. sanctions.
In an interview in June 2018, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed that Huawei was in compliance. However, eight months later, the U.S. made a completely different assessment and announced the U.S. charges against Huawei and Meng.
“Obviously, this came from the very top. You have the statement by Donald Trump, saying that this is a card that he intended to use in his trade negotiations,” said Einar Tangen, former U.S. prosecutor.
“Is this politically motivated? I mean, someone objective would say, might say, yes. I mean, this has been intended death path to Huawei in the United States. This is a great way to get rid of competition,” said Lehman.
“This is not a game of Go Fish, right? The idea that we are supposedly civilized, more civilized than we are today than we were in the past. How is that possible when in essence, he’s kidnapped her? All right, he is holding her for ransom against her father and the Chinese government and her own liberty for his own political gains,” said Tangen.
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
