HSBC Monitor Flagged Suspicious Huawei Transactions to Prosecutors

By Rachel Louise Ensign

A federally appointed overseer at HSBC Holdings PLC flagged suspicious transactions in the accounts of Huawei Technologies Co. to prosecutors seeking the extradition of the Chinese company's finance chief, people familiar with the matter said.

A monitor charged with evaluating HSBC's anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls in recent years relayed information about the Huawei transactions to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, the people said.

Canadian authorities on Dec. 1 arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of the U.S. for alleged violations of Iran sanctions, the latest move by Washington against the Chinese cellular-technology giant. The U.S. is seeking Ms. Meng's extradition so she can appear in federal court in the Eastern District, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

HSBC, one of several banks that did business with Huawei, is cooperating with investigators and isn't a target in the Huawei probe, some of the people said. The British bank until recently was being formally monitored for its controls meant to catch money laundering and sanctions violations under a 2012 agreement with U.S. prosecutors.

The Journal reported in April that the Justice Department had launched a criminal probe into Huawei's dealings in Iran, following administrative subpoenas on sanctions-related issues from both the Commerce Department and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Write to Rachel Louise Ensign at rachel.ensign@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 06, 2018 14:11 ET (19:11 GMT)

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