Chinese firm pleads guilty to breaking Iran sanctions

Mobile devices are displayed on a ZTE sales counter in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on October 8, 2012. Ethiopia signed an $800-million (600-million-euro) agreement with Chinese telecom giant ZTE Sunday to expand its telecommunications network, national operator Ethio Telecom said. (AFP/File)

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department says the Chinese firm ZTE Corp. has agreed to plead guilty and pay the United States $892 million for violating sanctions against Iran. The department said the company had illegally shipped sensitive U.S.-made equipment to Iran.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the corporation "not only violated export controls that keep sensitive American technology out of the hands of hostile regimes like Iran's," the company also "lied to federal investigators and even deceived their own counsel and internal investigators about their illegal acts."

According to legal documents, ZTE obtained the banned goods over a six-year period and shipped them to customers in Iran, knowing that the sales violated the sanctions. ZTE entered a guilty plea and also settled charges with the Commerce and Treasury departments.