JD.com founder and Chinese tech titan Richard Liu sues blogger for defamation
- Details of lawsuit shared by unnamed woman to her internet followers
- Billionaire founder of JD.com seeks damages for ‘mental harm’ and ‘economic losses’ over claims relating to US rape case
Chinese tech billionaire Richard Liu Qiangdong has launched legal action against an outspoken feminist blogger over a series of internet posts in which she claimed he was a rapist.
Liu, the founder of e-commerce site JD.com, who was accused of – but not charged with – rape in the United States, is suing the unnamed woman for 3 million yuan (US$436,000) through the Beijing Internet Court.
On Friday, the blogger – responsible for the popular “MaKuSiShuo” account on China’s microblogging platform Weibo – shared details and screenshots of the defamation lawsuit filed on July 2 by Liu to her 150,000 followers in a widely circulated post.
Liu, 45, was accused of rape last year by a Chinese exchange student at the University of Minnesota but US prosecutors decided not to press charges against him in December, due to insufficient evidence.
His accuser, Liu Jingyao, has since filed a civil lawsuit against the CEO, seeking more than US$50,000 in damages. Online petitions in support of Liu Jingyao gained thousands of supporters on Chinese social media before they were taken offline earlier this year.