Prosecutors in Minneapolis to review Liu sexual assault case

MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police have finished their initial investigation into a sexual assault allegation against Chinese billionaire Liu Qiangdong and have turned the case over to prosecutors for possible charges, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said his office will review the evidence and make a charging decision. There is no deadline for that decision.

The founder of the Beijing-based e-commerce site JD.com was arrested Aug 31 in Minneapolis on suspicion of felony rape. A police report doesn't provide details of the alleged incident. Liu was released the next day and he returned to China.

JD.com said Liu returned to China and resumed normal work after he was arrested in Minneapolis, in the United States, on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and later released without any charges or bail.

JD.com, the main rival to Alibaba Group and China's second largest e-commerce company, is backed by Walmart Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, and China's Tencent Holdings Ltd.

The company has not been performing well recently. Its Q2 net income totaled 122.3 billion yuan ($18.5 billion), up 31.2 percent, while its net profit was down 51.04 percent to 478 million yuan based on non-GAAP accounting, according to the company's Q2 fiscal report released on Aug 16.

Liu married Zhang Zetian, a 25-old-year online celebrity who graduated from China's Tshinghua University in 2015. Zhang gave birth to their daughter in 2016.

Liu's net worth was estimated at $7.9 billion as of Sept 3, 2018, ranking him at No 140 among the world's wealthiest.