“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 Sunday in a statement. “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.”
John Elder, public information officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, said a man he identified as Qiang Dong Liu had been arrested on a sexual misconduct allegation and released, but said the case remains open.
“This is an active investigation,” Mr. Elder said. “That individual was released pending formal complaint.”
Mr. Elder said Mr. Liu was held on probable cause before being released, with no bail being set. Investigators in Minnesota can either hold a person for up to 36 hours before charging them, or release them and continue an investigation.
“We can charge him anytime up to the statute of limitations running out,” Mr. Elder said. Depending on the details of the crime, criminal sexual conduct could either be a gross misdemeanor or a felony, he said.
The local Hennepin County Sheriff’s website shows Qiang Dong Liu born on March 10, 1973, was arrested at 11:32 p.m. Friday on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and released the next day at 4:05 p.m.
The JD.com chief executive, who also uses the Western name Richard Liu, was born March 10, 1973, records show.
A spokeswoman for JD.com declined to comment beyond the company statement, and declined to say what Mr. Liu—whose company is based in Beijing—was doing in Minnesota.
On the Chinese social media site Weibo, a user posted a photo early Sunday of Mr. Liu speaking at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. The Carlson school didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, and the post has since been taken down.
Mr. Liu made his fortune selling online goods to China’s growing numbers of middle class and affluent consumers, and Forbes pegs his net worth at about $7.9 billion.
Earlier this year, Mr. Liu tried to keep his name out of a criminal case in Australia, where a man was accused of sexually assaulting a woman he had met at a party at Mr. Liu’s Sydney home in 2015.
Mr. Liu wasn’t accused of wrongdoing. He had sought a suppression order in the case, citing potential damage to his business and marriage. Mr. Liu is married to Zhang Zetian, who had gained fame as “Sister Milk Tea” when a photo of her holding the beverage went viral on the internet.
JD.com is one of China’s leading e-commerce sites, providing online delivery of food and merchandise. Shares of the Nasdaq-listed company have fallen 28% this year, even though the company says active customer accounts increased by 22% to 313.8 million in the 12 months ended June 30, from 258.3 million in the year-earlier period.
Its investors include Tencent Holdings Ltd. , which held an 18% stake as of February. Mr. Liu owns 17% and Walmart Inc. holds a 10% stake, according to public filings.
In June, JD took on another prominent U.S. company as an investor, with Alphabet Inc.’sGoogle announcing a $550 million investment into the firm, giving the tech giant about a 1% stake.
Mr. Liu founded the company in 1998 with 12,000 yuan of his savings, selling compact discs and other goods from a physical store. He moved online in 2004, focusing initially on consumer electronics and then expanding to include groceries, apparel and other products.
JD.com has sought to differentiate itself from other Chinese e-commerce players by building up a strong logistics network of its own, similar to Amazon.com Inc.
In its early days, the company attracted investments from Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital China. JD.com received its strongest boost in 2013 when Saudi Arabian investment company Kingdom Holding Co. and its Chairman Prince al-Waleed bin Talal put in $250 million into the company.
That stake rose 130% about a year later, on JD.com’s first trading day on the Nasdaq.
