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DOSSIER – This archival photo from 2018 provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minneapolis shows Chinese billionaire Liu Qiangdong, also known as Richard Liu, founder of the e-commerce site JD.com , based in Beijing, who was arrested on August 31, 2018, in Minneapolis, on suspicion of criminal sexual behavior. A woman who claimed to have been raped by Liu had filed a complaint on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 against the billionaire and her company, alleging that he and other wealthy Chinese executives forced her to drink during a dinner in the hours that preceded his attack. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
MINNEAPOLIS – A woman who claimed to have been raped by JD.com founder Richard Liu on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the billionaire and his company, alleging that he and other wealthy Chinese executives had forced her to drink during a dinner in the hours leading up to his attack.
Jingyao Liu, a student at the University of Minnesota, claims that Liu forced her into her vehicle after dinner and that she then raped her at her apartment. The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $ 50,000.
Richard Liu, founder of the Beijing-based e-commerce site JD.com, was arrested on August 31 in Minneapolis on suspicion of rape and released a few hours later. Prosecutors announced in December that he would not be charged with any criminal charges because the case had "serious evidentiary problems" and that it was unlikely that They can prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Liu's defense lawyers said at the time that his arrest was based on a false statement. Liu issued a statement on Chinese social media, claiming that he had not broken any laws, but that his interactions with the woman had hurt his family, especially his wife, and he hoped that he would not be able to. she would accept her apology.
Richard Liu's attorneys and JD.com representatives did not immediately respond to Associated Press messages seeking comment.
The alleged attack took place while Liu was in Minneapolis for a one week residency as part of the Chinese PhD program in Business Administration at the University of Minnesota. The four-year program of the University Management School addresses high-level executives in China and is a partnership with the School of Economics and Management. Tsinghua University.
Jingyao Liu is a Chinese citizen who studies at the university with a student visa. She was a volunteer in the PhD program while Richard Liu was there. Associated Press does not generally name alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent; his lawyer, Wil Florin, said that Jingyao Liu had agreed to be named.
The complaint indicated that she was 21 years old at the time of the alleged attack. Florin said that Richard Liu and Jingyao Liu were not related.
On the night of the alleged attack, Liu and other leaders went to Origami, a Japanese restaurant in Minneapolis. The woman was a volunteer at the invitation of Charlie Yao, another program executive. He presented this as an event in the honor of the volunteers, but no one else was invited and Richard Liu privately asked Yao to invite the complainant, said the trial.
Jingyao Liu felt obligated to drink when the powerful men burned her, Richard Liu telling her that she would dishonor him if she did not attend, according to the lawsuit.
Texts reviewed by the Associated Press and excerpts from the woman's interviews with the police show that she asserts that Liu took her to a limousine and advanced despite her protests. The woman texted a friend: "I begged him not to, but he did not listen."
According to the complaint, Liu's assistant turned the limousine rearview mirror so that the driver could not see Liu fumbling for the student in the back despite his protests. Liu forced her into her apartment, still for her protests and resistance.
Liu, known in Chinese as Liu Qiangdong, is a prominent member of the Chinese technology elite, with a fortune of $ 7.5 billion. It is part of a generation of entrepreneurs who have created the internet, e-commerce, mobile phone and other technologies industries in China since the late 1990s. From peasants, Liu has built a Beijing electronics store on JD.com, China's largest online retailer, selling everything from clothes to toys to fresh vegetables.
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Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti
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