Founder of Chinese tech giant JD.com arrested in U.S. in sexual misconduct case

The billionaire CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc, Richard Liu, was arrested in the U.S. state of Minnesota on suspicion of felony sexual conduct and later launched, and police mentioned an investigation is ongoing. JD.com mentioned in an announcement that the accusation towards Liu, 45, was unsubstantiated and “native police shortly decided there was no substance to the declare.” The corporate mentioned early Monday Liu was had returned to China. John Elder, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Division, mentioned, nevertheless, that “an energetic investigation” was underway. He declined to offer particulars of the arrest. “We do not know if there might be expenses or not as a result of we have not concluded an investigation,” Elder advised Reuters on Sunday. Liu is the highest-profile Chinese businessperson to be accused of sexual misconduct. The #MeToo motion that has highlighted sexual misconduct has derailed the careers of well-known entertainers, company executives and politicians in the USA and different international locations, and has begun to seek out traction in China too. The grievance towards Liu was made simply earlier than midnight native time on Friday, and he was launched simply after four p.m. on Saturday, in line with the Hennepin County Sheriff web site. JD.com, backed by Walmart Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, and China’s Tencent Holdings, didn’t present additional particulars, and Liu couldn’t instantly be reached by Reuters. Elder mentioned he didn’t know if Liu was being represented in the case by a lawyer. On the town for govt coaching program The College of Minnesota mentioned Liu, whose Chinese identify is Liu Qiangdong, was a scholar in its physician of enterprise administration program, which primarily takes place in Beijing in partnership with the distinguished Tsinghua College and is geared toward full-time executives. The scholars have been in the Twin Cities final week as half of their coaching. Based on its web site, this system is designed for top-level executives working in China and the area, and the common age of members is 50. College spokeswoman Emma Bauer in an announcement declined to remark additional and referred inquiries to the Minneapolis Police Division. Chinese social media was abuzz over the arrest, with a thread on Liu’s police reserving photograph rating as probably the most mentioned subject on China’s Weibo platform on Monday morning, learn greater than 250 million instances. JD.com, one of China’s tech heavyweights, competes with bigger rival Alibaba Group, and Liu has a internet value of $7.9 billion US, in line with Forbes. The corporate, value some $45 billion, has seen its inventory lose 24 per cent of its worth this 12 months amid considerations of weakening progress momentum. Liu constructed JD.com from scratch. In 1998, he spent 12,000 yuan of his financial savings to lease a four-square-metre retail area in Beijing’s know-how hub of Zhongguancun, organising a agency that might change into JD.com. He’s additionally identified for his marriage to Chinese web movie star Zhang Zetian. Zhang, described by Chinese media as 24, shot to fame whereas a scholar in 2009 when a photograph of her holding a cup of milk tea went viral, giving her the nickname “sister milk tea.” She met Liu whereas finding out in the USA and married him in 2015. In July, a courtroom in Australia denied Liu’s efforts to dam the discharge of his identify in affiliation with a sexual assault trial in which he was not accused of any wrongdoing, in line with a courtroom doc. In that case, Liu had hosted a celebration in late 2015 at his luxurious residence in Sydney, after which one of his friends accused one other visitor of sexually assaulting her at a lodge. The defendant was discovered responsible of seven offences, in line with a courtroom doc. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/liu-jddotcom-arrest-minnneapolis-1.4797527?cmp=rss