Coverage: JD.com founder Liu arrested in Minnesota

Richard Liu, the billionaire founder and CEO of one of China’s largest e-commerce sites JD.com, has returned to China after being arrested in Minneapolis late Friday on suspicion of sexual misconduct.

Jackie Wattles of CNNMoney.com had the news:

JD.com said in a statement Sunday on Chinese social media that Liu was falsely accused while on a business trip in the United States. The company said police did not find evidence of wrongdoing, and that Liu is back in China and has “resumed his normal work.”

Liu was released without bail around 4 p.m. Saturday, according to Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder. He said that it was an “active investigation” but that no formal complaint had been filed. He declined to provide further details.

Liu was a registered student at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management China Doctor of Business Administration program, according to the university. Participants of the program were in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area from August 26 to September 1 as part of their residency. The university declined to comment further.

The program is for “top-level executives” working full-time in China. The current participants have worked for about 20 years and have an average age of 50, according to the university’s website.

Li Yuan of The New York Times reported that the arrest is a big conversation topic in China:

Chinese news outlets and social media users were consumed on Monday by details of Mr. Liu’s arrest. His mug shot, taken by law enforcement officials in Minnesota, was everywhere online. Chinese netizens speculated about how his wife — a celebrity in her own right, known as Sister Milk Tea — might respond, and parsed unfamiliar legal terms.

The intense reactions to Mr. Liu’s legal troubles reflect the public’s fascination with China’s self-made tech tycoons, who have become symbols of the country’s rise as a global power and its upward social mobility. Their books are best sellers. Their private lives are tabloid fodder. Their speeches on success and entrepreneurship are perpetually running on TV screens at airports.

In effect, they are the rock stars of China’s Gilded Age, and Mr. Liu is one of the brightest. His company, JD.com, courts the country’s growing middle class with quality brand products instead of the shoddy copycats that are common on the Chinese internet. Today, its shares trade on the Nasdaq at a market value of about $50 billion.

Alex Horton and Emily Rauhala of The Washington Post reported that a sexual assault occurred at Liu’s Australia home in 2015:

In June, Google announced a $550 million investment in the company. In return, JD.com will join Google’s shopping platform. The companies will also partner on retail projects in United States, Europe and Southeast Asia, potentially helping JD grow beyond China and compete with the likes of Amazon. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon.com, owns The Washington Post.)

Earlier this year, Liu attempted to suppress information about a sexual assault that occurred after a 2015 party at his Australian home, the New York Times reported.

Longwei Xu, a property developer, was later found guilty of seven counts. While Liu was not accused of wrongdoing, he asked an Australian court to block release of his name, citing potential harm to his company and marriage, the Times reported. A judge denied his request in July.