US, Reuters seek to unseal records in ZTE case

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US, Reuters seek to unseal records in ZTE case

On Monday, Reuters and Dow Jones brought a motion to unseal records in the US case against China's ZTE Corp, arguing that secrecy does not serve the public interest.

In 2017, one of the world's top telecommunications equipment makers, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate US export laws by illegally shipping US goods to Iran.

As part of a deal with the prosecutors, the company paid $892 million in penalties and agreed to probation and monitoring for three years and was extended another two years before ending in March.

Over the probationary period, almost all of the hearings and most filings in the case were kept from the public.

The news organisations wrote in their motion to intervene and unload the records for about five years that the business of this case has been conducted in near-total secrecy. The exclusion of the press and the public is in stark contrast to the public's weighty interest in access. According to the news outlets, a right to access exists under both the Common Law and the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which is represented by the Washington-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

The filing says that both US and ZTE have indicated they oppose the motion to unseal. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to respond to a request for comment, and the company didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.

The sealed records contain reports by a monitor who is tasked with evaluating the company's compliance with US export control laws. All reports, submissions, or other materials included in the agreement will be filed under seal and all court proceedings will be conducted in camera under a 2017 agreement on the monitor attached to the plea deal. Sources said the bills of the monitors ran to millions of dollars a month.

In 2017, Reuters reported that Dallas lawyer James Stanton lacked experience in US export controls when he was appointed by his self-proclaimed mentor, US District Court Judge Ed Kinkeade, the Texas judge who presided over the case.

A file related to Stanton's appointment is among those under seal.

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