In January 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Huawei with conspiring to steal trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. According to prosecutors, the Chinese telecommunications company conspired to steal trade secrets and valuable intellectual property, notably from T-Mobile, “to gain an unfair advantage in the global marketplace”. The indictment stated that Huawei engineers “violated confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements” with T-Mobile by secretly taking photos of company’s phone-robot “Tappy” in an attempt to replicate the robot. The FBI also claimed that Huawei offered bonuses to workers based on the information stolen from other companies. Under PRC law, Huawei is obligated to participate in national intelligence work, has been credibly accused of cooperation with PRC intelligence agencies, and is owned ultimately by a trade union entity likely controlled by the CCP.