A racketeering trial against Huawei Technologies started on Wednesday in New York.

Federal prosecutors say the Chinese tech company committed crimes.

These include stealing technology from American firms and abusing the U.S. financial system.

They also say Huawei helped Iran spy on its citizens.

Huawei is the world's biggest supplier of wireless telecom network gear.

But the U.S. bans it from selling equipment to U.S. carriers because of security fears.

Canada and Britain have also blacklisted it.

Justice Department attorney Taylor Stout opened the government's case.

She told the Brooklyn jury that Huawei committed many crimes over twenty years.

Defense attorney Brian Heberlig dismissed the accusations.

He said prosecutors built their case on a few anecdotes.

He also blamed bad behavior by a small number of Huawei's workers.

The company has about 200,000 employees in 170 countries.

He said there was "no blueprint for crime."

The first witness was Parham Baheshti.

He grew up in Iran and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

He testified that he gave secrets to the U.S. government about his dealings with Huawei.

He said he learned about the company in 2009.

At that time, he worked for a small firm bringing the internet to remote parts of Iran.

He said he found it "infuriating" when he realized Huawei was pitching a plan.

The plan was "for analyzing the (Iranian) people and their behavior online."

He left Iran in 2011 after being told he was under investigation.

Heberlig told jurors the prosecution's witnesses were unreliable.

He said some testimony was fueled by "old grudges."

He mocked a plan to show that a Huawei employee photographed a rival's product at a trade show.

He said Huawei fired the worker for the "foolish act."

He said it was not proof of a companywide conspiracy.

The U.S. announced the criminal charges in early 2019 and has since expanded them.

Chinese officials have called the U.S. actions "economic bullying."