Huawei Investigation Was Targeted by Chinese Spies, US Alleges

The US unsealed charges claiming two Chinese intelligence officers tried to obstruct a criminal investigation of Huawei Technologies Co.

In a complaint made public Monday, the US claims Guochun He and Zheng Wang worked on behalf of the Chinese government to target the US, from 2019 until the present, for the benefit of the company, which it doesn’t name. A person familiar with the matter confirmed it is Huawei.

The US claims He and Wang bribed a law enforcement employee to provide what they believed was confidential information about witnesses, evidence and possible additional charges to be filed against the technology giant. He paid the employee $61,000 in Bitcoin, according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint includes conversations between the US government employee, He and Wang using an encrypted messaging program that is not identified. 

In a January 2019 message, the employee told He that he was “having financial difficulties.”