ZTE is nearing an agreement to plead guilty to U. S. criminal charges and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties for violating sanctions.
Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE is nearing an agreement to plead guilty to U. S. criminal charges and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties over allegations it violated U. S. laws that restrict the sale of U. S. technology to Iran , a person familiar with the matter said.
The company has not yet signed a deal with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury , cautioned the person, who declined to speak on the record because the negotiations are not public.
Others noted that with a new U. S. administration prompting changes in personnel at government departments, a final deal may be delayed or even scuttled.
But ZTE is expected to plead guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, among other charges, the source said, and pay penalties in the hundreds of millions.
A ZTE spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did a spokesman for the U. S. Department of Commerce. Spokesmen for the U. S. Department of Justice and U. S. Department of Treasury declined to comment.
An agreement would cap a year of uncertainty for the Shenzhen-based company, which was placed on a list of entities March 2016 that U. S. suppliers could not work with without a
license. ZTE acted contrary to U. S. national security or foreign policy interests, the Commerce Department said at the time.
One of the world’s biggest telecommunications gear makers and the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the United States, ZTE sells handset devices to U. S. mobile carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. It relies on U. S. companies including Qualcomm, Microsoft and Intel for components.
The listing could have severely disrupted the company’s supply chain, but the Commerce Department granted ZTE a temporary license so U.
