The founder and CEO of JD.com, a Chinese equivalent to Amazon, returned home to China just a couple days after being arrested in Minneapolis for sexual misconduct.
The investigation of the CEO — Liu Qiangdong, also known as Richard Liu — is ongoing, Reuters reported Sunday.
“We don’t know if there will be charges or not because we haven’t concluded an investigation,” John Elder, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department, told Reuters on Sunday.
Liu’s lawyer Earl Gray told Reuters the accusations are unsubstantiated, adding that Liu was released without bail after he was arrested Friday.
“Under these circumstances based on our substantial experience in the criminal justice system in Minnesota charges are highly unlikely in the future to be brought against our client,” Gray said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
JD.com also denied the accusations, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported Sunday.
“During a business trip to the United States, Mr. Liu was questioned by police in Minnesota in relation to an unsubstantiated accusation,” the company said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal Sunday. “The local police quickly determined there was no substance to the claim against Mr. Liu, and he was subsequently able to resume his business activities as originally planned.”
Liu — who is worth an estimated $7.9 billion, according to Forbes, making him one of China’s richest men — has been previously accused of sexual misconduct, according to TheWSJ. He reportedly tried to keep his name out of a sexual assault case in Australia.
Liu has a home in Sydney, where he was accused of sexually assaulting a girl he met at a party he held in 2015.
JD.com operates similarly to Amazon. While it is a direct competitor to Alibaba, another Amazon-like Chinese e-commerce retail store, they both aim to expand their businesses globally, TheDCNF reported. (RELATED: Trump’s Amazon Fight Temporarily Blocked As Senate Cancels Postal Service Hearing)
Google, which is owned by parent company Alphabet, owns about 1 percent of the company. It invested $550 million in June, according to Reuters.
Google’s shopping platform must promote JD.com products as part of one of the stipulations of the deal.
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