BROOKLYN, New York — The admissions Meng Wanzhou signed before returning to China have now been read to the jury deciding Huawei’s criminal case in Brooklyn, as courtroom closures and disputes over redacted evidence complicate public scrutiny of the proceedings.
On October 7, former FBI agent Leigh Ann Sweeney read Meng’s agreed statement of facts into the trial record. Sweeney worked on the investigation in 2017.
The development brings jurors the written admissions of Huawei’s chief financial officer, whose arrest in Vancouver triggered a diplomatic crisis involving Canada, China and the United States.
Meng herself is not appearing to explain those statements or face cross-examination. In June, U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly ruled the statement admissible against Huawei and found it unnecessary for the company to question Meng at trial.
Meng’s absence carries a distinct Canadian history. As The Bureau reported when the trial opened, a classified June 2019 Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessment said Beijing feared she might cooperate with American authorities and disclose privileged information if extradited.
That intelligence assessment described a coordinated campaign to secure her return, including pressure focused on Canadian business leaders with access to senior Canadian elected officials, and election interference in the 2019 federal contest.
The intelligence reported by The Bureau is completely separate from the evidence now being tested in Brooklyn, but it provides another lens on the case, one that will not be heard by the New York jury.
