ZTE Faces Court Hearing Over Possible Of Its U.S. Probation

Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp. will go back to US federal court March 14 to face a new accusation it may have violated its probation from its 2017 guilty plea for illegally shipping US technology to Iran, Karen Freifeld reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: ZTE has faced massive fines and other penalties for running afoul of US authorities in the past.

The possible violation relates to an alleged conspiracy to commit visa fraud, according to a March 4 court filing in a Texas federal court.

An indictment unsealed last March charges a former ZTE research director in New Jersey and a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology with conspiring to bring Chinese nationals to the US with J-1 visas, which are designed for work and study at institutions like Georgia Tech.

After arriving the Chinese nationals went to work for ZTE in New Jersey, the indictment alleges. The professor, Gee-Kung Chang, has pleaded not guilty. The status of the ZTE research director, Jianjun Yu, is unclear. ZTE is not charged in the case.

If ZTE were found to have violated its probation, the ramifications are unclear. But in the past ZTE has faced massive fines and other penalties for running afoul of US authorities. ZTE agreed to pay $892 million and pleaded guilty in Texas in 2017 to criminal charges for violating US laws that restrict the sale of American-made technology to Iran and North Korea.

A five-year investigation had found ZTE conspired to evade US embargoes by buying US components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment, and illegally shipping them to Iran.

Investigators also uncovered 283 shipments of telecommunications equipment to North Korea. At the time, ZTE agreed to three years of probation, a compliance program, and a corporate monitor.

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