Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Federal prosecutors opened a criminal probe into Chinese mobile company Huawei Technologies for allegedly stealing “trade secrets” from business partner T-Mobile, The Wall Street Journal reports. The investigation reportedly stems from a civil lawsuit T-Mobile brought against Huawei, in which a Seattle jury found Huawei guilty of “misappropriating robotic technology” from T-Mobile’s lab. Sources told the newspaper the federal probe is at an “advanced stage” and an indictment could come soon. According to the civil lawsuit, two Huawei employees attempted to take photos and steal a part of a T-Mobile smartphone quality control robot named Tappy after the Chinese company was hired to provide phones for the U.S. wireless network. Huawei contested the civil suit, but admitted that the two employees “acted improperly.”