JD.Com CEO Detained in U.S. for Sexual Misconduct

Police in the U.S. state of Minnesota detained and later released a person whose name and birth date match those of JD.com Inc.'s founder and CEO for criminal sexual conduct, following Chinese media reports of such actions against Richard Liu.

A sheriff’s jail roster record from Minnesota’s Hennepin County showed a man surnamed Liu with the given name of Qiangdong, the Chinese name for Richard Liu, was detained on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct on Aug. 31 at 11:32 p.m. He was released the next day at about 4 p.m. after the brief detention, according to the documents viewed by Caixin.

Both the name and birthdate of the person in the detention record matched that of Richard Liu.

Following the Chinese media accounts, JD.com said on its official microblog that the reports were untrue. It said Liu had been participating in a business activity at the time when false accusations were made against him, and that a police investigation had not found any inappropriate behavior. It added that Liu had continued on with his previously planned agenda following the investigation.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)