Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York requested a conflict-of-interest inquiry into the work of Thompson & Knight and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati attorneys in an intellectual property dispute on Wednesday, saying the firms are being paid by a U.S. subsidiary of Huawei, the Chinese tech company that has been linked to the crime under investigation.

Bo Mao, a Chinese citizen, was arrested in August while working as a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. His case was moved to New York for reasons that prosecutors refused to reveal – one of several details that have been redacted or sealed in the case.