Woman will sue Chinese billionaire after prosecutors decline criminal charges
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Liu Qiangdong, also known as Richard Liu, CEO of JD.com, raises his arms to celebrate the IPO for his company at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York in 2014. An attorney for Liu welcomes a decision by Minnesota prosecutors not to charge Liu after a Chinese college student accused him of sexual assault. The attorney says Liu was arrested “based on a false claim,” and the decision not to file charges “vindicates him.”
MINNEAPOLIS >> The attorney for a University of Minnesota student who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Chinese billionaire Richard Liu says the woman is planning to sue.
Attorney Wil Florin says a civil jury should determine whether Liu, his company, Beijing-based e-commerce site JD.com, and their representatives “should be held accountable for the events of that night.”
Florin issued a statement after Minnesota prosecutors on Friday declined to charge Liu.
Florin would not give details of the planned lawsuit, but told the Associated Press it would be in the U.S.
Liu was arrested Aug. 31 and released. He returned to China. He was in Minneapolis for a weeklong residency as part of the University of Minnesota’s doctor of business administration China program.
Liu’s attorney says the billionaire was arrested “based on a false claim” and that the decision not to file charges “vindicates him.”
