Chinese Billionaire Arrested in Minnesota in Sexual Misconduct Case
By Raymond Zhong and Li Yuan
BEIJING — The billionaire chief executive of one of China’s largest online retailers was arrested Friday in Minnesota on a charge of criminal sexual conduct before being released a day later, according to police records.
According to the jail roster (监狱名单) for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office, Richard Liu, the founder of JD.com, was taken into custody (被拘捕) by the Minneapolis police late Friday and freed Saturday afternoon.
In a statement posted Sunday afternoon on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, JD.com said that a false accusation (错误的指控，意即谣言) had been made against (针对) Mr. Liu while he was in the United States on business, and that the local police had found no evidence of misconduct (不当的行为). The company said that Mr. Liu’s trip would continue as planned.
A company spokeswoman declined to comment further. When asked when Mr. Liu, whose Chinese name is Liu Qiangdong, would return to China, the spokeswoman said she did not have that information.
JD.com is a heavyweight in China’s technology scene, and Mr. Liu is one of its most revered leading lights (导航灯，意指公司的引路人、重要人物). The company competes with Alibaba for the attention of China’s increasingly affluent middle class, and says it has more than 300 million customers. It reported disappointing earnings for its most recent quarter (财季).
Recently, Mr. Liu tried to distance himself from a sexual assault that was alleged to have taken place after a 2015 party at his penthouse (豪华公寓的顶层) in Australia. A guest at the party, Longwei Xu, was convicted (被证罪、被判刑) of sexual assault. Mr. Xu, a property development professional also known as Tommy, was found guilty of seven charges, including having sex with his accuser without her consent.
Mr. Liu has not been charged with a crime or accused of any wrongdoing in that case. But he tried to get an Australian court to prevent the release (公布、公开) of his name by citing damage to his marriage and business, court documents show. In July, a judge rejected his request for a suppression order.
references:
taken into custody: the state of being kept in a prison or jail — used after in or into
He was taken into (police) custody last night and will be charged with murder today.
heavyweight: someone or something that is very important and powerful
Their company is one of the industry's heavyweights.
distance: to show that you are not involved with someone or something : to end a connection to or relationship with someone or something — usually + from
She has tried to distance herself from her family.
They all want to distance themselves from the scandal.
suppression order: A suppression order (also known as a gagging order or gag order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party
source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/business/richard-liu-arrest-minnesota-china.html
extended reading: https://cn.nytimes.com/asia-pacific/20180725/jd-richard-liu-sydney/dual/