JD.com CEO released after US arrest for alleged sexual misconduct
BEIJING/NEW YORK: The billionaire CEO of Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com Inc, Richard Liu, was arrested in the US state of Minnesota on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and later released, and police said an investigation is ongoing.
JD.com said in a statement that the accusations against Liu, 45, were unsubstantiated and “local police quickly determined there was no substance to the claim.”
John Elder, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department, said, however, that “an active investigation” was underway but it was possible for Liu to leave the United States. He declined to provide details of the arrest.
“We don’t know if there will be charges or not because we haven’t concluded an investigation,” Elder told Reuters on Sunday.
Liu is the highest-profile Chinese businessperson to be accused of sexual misconduct.
The #MeToo movement that has highlighted sexual misconduct has derailed the careers of well known entertainers, corporate executives and politicians in the United States and other countries, and has begun to find traction in China too.
The complaint against Liu was made just before midnight local time on Friday, and he was released just after 4 pm on Saturday, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff website.
JD.com, backed by Walmart Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, and China’s Tencent Holdings, did not provide further details, and Liu could not immediately be reached by Reuters.
Elder said he did not know if Liu was being represented in the case by a lawyer.
The University of Minnesota said Liu, whose Chinese name is Liu Qiangdong, was a student in its doctor of business administration program, which primarily takes place in Beijing in partnership with the prestigious Tsinghua University and is aimed at fulltime executives.
The students were in the Twin Cities last week as part of their training.
University spokeswoman Emma Bauer in a statement declined to comment further and referred questions to the Minneapolis Police Department.
Chinese social media was abuzz over the arrest, with a thread on Liu’s police booking photo ranking as the most discussed topic on China’s Weibo platform on Monday morning, read more than 250 million times.
JD.com, one of China’s tech heavyweights, competes with larger rival Alibaba Group, and Liu has a net worth of US$7.9 billion, according to Forbes. — Reuters