A 32-page affidavit explaining all the schemes, all of the shell companies and all of the big players was leaked to the press.
The former General Counsel for ZTE turned whistleblower joins ClearedCast to tell his chilling story outlined in his book,“Standing Up To China,” where he uncovered some pretty shocking things about the company trying to get around U.S. export laws.
The elusive Chinese Market
Ashley Yablon is a trusted source in understanding the ins and outs of the elusive Chinese Market and most importantly, the ins and outs of ZTE.
Currently, the White House has barred approval of new telecommunications equipment from companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE since they pose an unnecessary risk to US national security. Yablon, who has supported both organizations, starts at the beginning of his story with ZTE, highlighting how the fallout started before he blew the whistle on the conglomerate.
FBI Raid Details
Yablon uncovered an illegal scheme of ZTE selling billions of dollars’ worth of surveillance equipment to embargoed countries through shell organizations. After telling executives of the severity of what they were doing, he learned that he would be the blamed one in this story.
As a lawyer, attorney / client privilege was not necessarily an issue where his story started in 2011, because after committing fraudulent acts, executives intended to continue their criminal ways and make Yablon the scapegoat in testifying before congress during the House investigation into ZTE’s practices. Unfortunately, whistleblower protections did not apply to Yablon’s case because ZTE USA did not necessarily have a contract with the U.S. government.
After Yablon reached out to the FBI, he was forced under employment law to go back to work prior to the FBI raid. His family had to go into hiding among many other things after his affidavit was leaked to Reuters.
Readers of his book can expect to travel into the dark spaces among corporate greed, which can stir up some drama if you’re doing it as a whistleblower supporting one of the world’s most powerful Chinese telecom giants.
There are critical repercussions to this story happening in the U.S. and around the world. Right now, we have given $1.9B to support rural carriers to rid themselves of Huawei and ZTE equipment, which were attractive to smaller wireless carriers because of lower prices and the substantial financing. Another $3B is needed to finish the “rip and replace” job. The road ahead will continue to be more costly in order to be more careful.
