The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that it filed several criminal charges against Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., and its affiliates, Huawei Device Co., Ltd. and Huawei Device Co. USA.

The grand jury returned the indictment on January 16, charging the defendants with several counts, including bank fraud, wire fraud, various conspiracy acts and violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Huawei’s CFO Wanzhou Meng was also charged in the indictment, along with additional persons who have not yet been revealed.

Huawei is the world’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer with its headquarters in the People’s Republic of China. In 2007 Huawei allegedly began a scheme to deceive the US government and numerous global financial institutions, saying it was not an affiliate of Iran company Skycom. In 2012 and 2013 the relationship between the companies was uncovered:

Huawei operated Skycom as an unofficial affiliate in Iran and that Meng had served on the board of directors of Skycom, Huawei employees, and in particular Meng, continued to lie to Huawei’s banking partners about Huawei’s relationship with Skycom. They falsely claimed that Huawei had sold its interest in Skycom to an unrelated third party in 2007 and that Skycom was merely Huawei’s local business partner in Iran. In reality, Skycom was Huawei’s longstanding Iranian affiliate, and Huawei orchestrated the 2007 sale to appear as an arm’s length transaction between two unrelated parties, when in fact Huawei actually controlled the company that purchased Skycom.

On several occasions, Huawei allegedly lied to various US government officials and agencies, saying the relationship did not violate any US laws. US officials say the acts threaten national security and violated the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.

The case is currently before the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.