US Prosecutors Probing Huawei for Alleged Theft of Trade Secrets - Reports

The Wall Street Journal said, citing sources familiar with the matter, that one area of the investigation involves the technology behind a device that T-Mobile used for testing smartphones.

“The investigation grew in part out of civil lawsuits against Huawei, including one in which a Seattle jury found Huawei liable for misappropriating robotic technology from T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Wash. lab," the Wall Street Journal reported, based on unnamed sources. "The probe is at an advanced stage and could lead to an indictment soon."

T-Mobile filed a lawsuit against Huawei in 2014, a time when an American company had hired Huawei to supply cellphones, the report said. During the partnership, Huawei employees asked detailed questions about the testing robot and attempted to sneak parts of the device out of a T-Mobile lab.

Huawei has recently faced allegations that it is linked to the Chinese government and even involved in espionage on its behalf, something that the company has vehemently denied. Last year, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States banned the Chinese telecommunications giant from participating in government contracts.

Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei said Tuesday that the Chinese telecommunication giant had never spied in favor of Beijing or granted access to "improper information" to any country. The Huawei founder stressed that he had "never received any request from any government to provide improper information".

READ MORE: China Could Respond to Czech Republic, Poland Over Huawei Case — Pundits

Last week, Polish media reported that one of directors of the Polish office of Huawei and a former high-ranking employee of Poland's Internal Security Agency (ISA) had been arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying for China.

On Saturday, the China-based company terminated its contract with Wang Weijing, the employee detained by the Polish authorities. The company stressed that Huawei always complies with the norms and laws of the countries in which it operates, and demands that all its employees follow the relevant laws and regulations.

According to the Polish broadcaster TVP, the other suspect, identified as Piotr D., was an employee of the ISA until 2011, where he served as the deputy head of the department for information security, as well as an adviser to the head of the intelligence service. His resignation was reportedly related to a scandal involving corruption during public auctions, but no charges were filed against him. Piotr D. allegedly had access to information on how to operate Poland's government communication system, which secretly transfers sensitive data to the country's leadership.

READ MORE: 'Huawei, China’s Pioneer in the High Tech World, Became the Bullseye' – Scholar