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A comment on New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in Iran, Syria. Parent comment

Re:New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in... by idbehold on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @04:35PM (#18859953)
> Huawei, U.S. authorities assert, retained control of Skycom, using it to sell telecom equipment to Iran and move money out via the international banking system. As a result of the deception, U.S. authorities say, banks unwittingly cleared hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions that potentially violated economic sanctions Washington had in place at the time against doing business with Iran.

> [...] In the United States, Meng would face charges in connection with an alleged conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions, with a maximum sentence of 30 years for each charge.

It seems like the sanctions are only part of the story. The charge is to do with defrauding the banks into violating the sanctions.

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Re:New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in... by lawnchair_larry on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @04:58PM (#18860151)
That’s really the same thing though. It is quite a stretch of the definition of fraud. Nobody was out any money. They just lied to the bank about how they were using the money. It seems like that is not the bank’s concern anyway, and the bank suffered no harm. If there is more to it than that, I’d be curious to know.
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Re:New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in... by ABCLAW on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @05:11PM (#18860252)
No, there's less to it than that:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1344

You aren't allowed to lie to the bank if you're getting money out of them, even if they are made whole. Them being made whole may prevent them from exercising a number of tortious claims against you, but that doesn't mean what you've done isn't independently illegal.

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Re:New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in... by idbehold on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @05:10PM (#18860238)
In what way is that not fraud?

Fraud - wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

No one has to be "out any money" for fraud to occur.

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