ZTE has agreed to plea guilty and pay a $1.2 billion penalty in order to resolve allegation that it violated U. S. sanction targeting Iran.<\/b>
ZTE will enter a guilty plea in federal court, U. S. investigators said Tuesday. Executives at the firm had conspired to build telecommunications networks in Iran using equipment manufactured in the U. S., they said.
U. S. officials allege that ZTE’s most senior executives were aware of the firm’s activities in Iran, which continued even after they were publicly disclosed in a 2012 media report.
«We are putting the world on notice: the games are over,» Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. «Those who flout our economic sanctions and export control laws will not go unpunished — they will suffer the harshest of consequences. »
A representative for ZTE ( ZTCOF ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside business hours.<\/p>\n