JD.com CEO Arrested for Alleged Sexual Misconduct in the U.S.
JD.com Inc.’s billionaire founder was arrested for alleged sexual misconduct during a trip to Minnesota, with local police beginning an investigation into the chief executive officer of one of China’s largest internet corporations.
Liu Qiangdong, who uses the English name Richard, was brought in at 11:32 p.m. Aug. 31 on a charge of “criminal sexual conduct” and released at 4:05 p.m. Sept. 1, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s arrest records. Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder declined to provide any further details about the reasons for the arrest, but said authorities decided not to keep Liu in custody and haven’t imposed any travel restrictions on him while conducting their investigation.
JD.com is the country’s largest e-commerce company after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., backed by investors from social media titan Tencent Holdings Ltd. to American names Walmart Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Liu, 45, has led the $45 billion business since its founding and controls the business through special voting rights.
“We are very much in the infancy of this investigation,” Elder said. Authorities may decide not to charge Liu at all, he added. “There are no travel restrictions on him at the moment and he’s not charged with a crime at this time.”
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-02/jd-com-ceo-arrested-for-alleged-sexual-misconduct-in-the-u-s
