Chinese online retail tycoon released after US sexual conduct charge
The billionaire leader of a Chinese web retail giant was arrested in the US on Friday on a charge of criminal sexual conduct, before being released a day later.
Richard Liu, the founder of JD.com – one of China’s biggest online retailers, and a major rival to web behemoth Alibaba – was taken into custody on Friday evening and released “pending complaint” yesterday afternoon, Minnesota police records show.
A JD.com spokesperson told City PM Liu “was questioned by police in Minnesota in relation to an unsubstantiated accusation.”
“The local police quickly determined there was no substance to the claim against Mr Liu, and he was subsequently able to resume his business activities as originally planned,” they added.
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A spokesperson for the company said they did not know when Liu will return to China.
Liu launched his first “Jingdong” store, selling computer drives, in 1998. Forced to alter his business plans by a SARS outbreak, he switched to a online model and launched JD.com in 2004, closing all his brick-and-mortar stores by the following year in order to focus on e-commerce. He is now estimated by Forbes to have a net worth of $11bn (£8.49bn).
The online store, which sells a wide variety of consumer goods, has become a fierce rival of Alibaba, which has often been compared to Amazon. JD.com went public in the US in 2014 in one of the biggest Nasdaq floats of the year, and has received investments from retail company Walmart and Chinese social media conglomerate Tencent. It took a stock price earlier this year after reporting disappointing earnings.
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In June, Google announced that it would invest $550m into the company, as part of a multi-faceted partnership aimed at eventually expanding its reach beyond China and southeast Asia into the US and European markets.
Liu had previously tried to distance himself from a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place after a party at his penthouse in Australia in 2015. A guest who worked in property development, Longwei Xu, also known as Tommy Xu, was found guilty of seven charges. Liu has not been charged or accused of any wrongdoing with relation to the case, but failed in an attempt to prevent the release of his name in connection to it.