Founder of JD.com released pending further investigation by Minneapolis police
The billionaire founder and chief executive of Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com, Richard Liu, has been arrested in Minnesota on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct.
He was arrested shortly before midnight on Friday and was released just after 4pm on Saturday, according to Hennepin county sheriff’s office. Its website showed Liu was “released pending complaint”. Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder said an investigation was ongoing and declined to provide details of the arrest.
JD.com is one of China’s tech heavyweights, competing with larger rival Alibaba. Liu is well known in China and has a net worth of $7.9bn, according to Forbes.
JD.com, backed by Walmart, Google, and China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd, said in a statement on Sunday that Liu, whose Chinese name is Liu Qiangdong, was falsely accused.
