Reuters and Dow Jones call for opening of ZTE case files.


ZTE, one of the world’s leading telecommunications equipment makers, pleaded guilty in 2017 to conspiring to violate US export laws by illegally shipping US goods to Iran.

As part of a settlement with prosecutors, the company paid a historic penalty of $892 million and agreed to probation and supervision for three years, a term extended for another two years before ending in March.

During the probationary period, almost all hearings and most depositions in the case were kept from public view.

“For approximately five years, the affairs of this case have been conducted in near total secrecy,” the news organizations wrote in their motion to intervene and unseal. “This broad exclusion of the press and public stands in stark contrast to the heavy public interest in access.”

A right of access exists under both common law and the First Amendment to the US Constitution, according to the news organizations, which are represented by the Washington-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

ZTE and US prosecutors said they opposed the opening motion, according to the filing. A spokesman for the US Department of Justice declined to comment, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sealed documents include reports from a monitor responsible for assessing the company’s compliance with US export control laws. According to a 2017 monitor agreement attached to the plea agreement, “All reports, submissions or other materials encompassed by this agreement will be filed under seal and all legal proceedings will be conducted in camera.”

Also sealed are the monitor’s bills which, sources say, sometimes ran into the millions of dollars a month.

In 2017, Reuters reported that the monitor, Dallas attorney James Stanton, lacked U.S. export control experience when he was appointed by his self-proclaimed mentor, Justice Ed Kinkeade of the strict Court Di
the Texas judge who presided over the case https://reut.rs/3ON0ruv.

A dossier relating to Stanton’s appointment is among those under seal.

Stanton did not respond to a request for comment on Monday and the judge’s office said he was not expected to return until next week. In 2017, Stanton and Kinkeade did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.



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