JD.com's Billionaire CEO Will Not Be Charged With Sexual Assault (bbc.com)

In September, JD.com's billionaire founder, Richard Liu, was accused of rape nearly four months ago by a young Chinese student at the University of Minnesota. He was reportedly in Minneapolis for his studies since he is a doctoral student at the university. According to The New York Times, "the Hennepin County attorney's office said that it did not find enough evidence to pursue a sexual assault case against Mr. Liu (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source)." From the report: The office of the Hennepin County Attorney said that it did not find enough evidence to pursue a case against Mr. Liu, a 45-year-old internet tycoon who was arrested by Minneapolis police in the early morning of Sept. 1 but was released within hours and allowed to return to China. The decision could bring Mr. Liu, who founded and leads the e-commerce behemoth JD.com, back to a more visible role at the company. JD.com's stock has slumped since the accusations were revealed, and Mr. Liu, whose Chinese name is Liu Qiangdong, has skipped several public engagements.

Comments

Re: Rich person not guilty

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you really want to live in a society where an accusation with no evidence is guilt? Forget about individuals or politics, you may have a son in the same situation some day.
I also have a daughter and do not want her at risk of rape. I am not familiar with the specifics of this story, but I believe presumption of innocence is by far the best system.

Evidence?

[Calydor]

Since when do we need EVIDENCE for rape accusations? Burn him at the stake and end his career!

Re:Evidence?

[Can'tNot]

Accusations never require evidence. Prosecution should require evidence, and... that's what happened. No evidence, so the prosecution dropped the case.

I don't see the problem here.

Re:Evidence?

[Richard_at_work]

It entirely depends what you mean by "evidence"...

I had no evidence of my abuse at the hands of a family friend in the 1980s.

Neither did any of his other victims.

But together, as 12 independent victims, the case against him was enough to convict him on most of the charges and have him sentenced to a lengthy stay at Her Majesties Pleasure.

More of his victims are still coming out of the woodwork, so his stay is likely to be extended for the foreseeable future.

Re:Evidence?

[Anonymous Coward]

That is exactly how the Salem witch trials worked. No evidence, but enough colluding little girls get together and they chose who burned on a whim.

Re:Evidence?

[DNS-and-BIND]

#believeallwomen

Re:Evidence?

[Can'tNot]

Huh. How does that work? If he was accused of 12 different crimes, but none of those crimes independently had enough evidence for conviction, then which was he convicted for?

Did they just pick one, and say, "This is the one that he's guilty of."?

Whay is this even news?

[Dusanyu]

Someone was not charged due to a lack of any proof to support a accusation. the headline should read "the system works"

Re:Whay is this even news?

[Frobnicator]

That's a thing many people don't get. "No charges filed" is exactly how the system is supposed to work.

When it is he said / she said, or also in cases of male rape of he said / she said, it usually their word alone isn't enough to file charges. Even after a rape kit and when there is evidence of sex, that does not mean there is enough evidence for a conviction or even to file charges.

Unless there was a high level of violence and fighting back there tends to not be enough evidence to convict. There is a certain level that must be reached to convince the court, and usually it isn't met. Sex happened can be countered with "the other person consented at the time, this is regret not a criminal act."

But it is still critically important that reports are made, because as more reports come in, when it reaches he said / she said / she said / she said, it reaches enough evidence to convince a judge and jury. Don't remain silent if you are a victim. But also don't expect a conviction without strong evidence.

Re:Whay is this even news?

[rtb61]

Claimant wins millions in civil suit, that is how the system actually works, let's be honest. The bigger your wallet, the more you should keep your genitals in your own pants, just the way it is.

Let's not pretend we don't make exceptions

[rmdingler]

On June 18, (1998) Richard Liu committed RMB12,000 of his savings to lease a four-square-meter retail unit in Beijing’s technology hub of Zhongguancun. Here he established JD Multimedia, the business that would eventually become JD.com.

In March, (2013) JD formed a strategic partnership with Tencent, giving JD exclusive access to Tencent’s WeChat and Mobile QQ platforms.

Four square meters of rented space to billionaire. China's like America in the 1800's.

Re:Let's not pretend we don't make exceptions

[Aighearach]

You're repeating what you replied to.

Re: Rich person not guilty

[_merlin]

The thing is, if he was poor he wouldn't have been able to post bail, wouldn't have been allowed to return to China, and would have been bullied into a plea bargain. The US legal system (calling it a "justice system" feels like a bad joke) is stacked in favour of people with money.

Re: Rich person not guilty

[Aighearach]

Do you really want to live in a society where an accusation with no evidence is guilt?

That depends. Can we determine guilt through combat instead of evidence? If so, I'm in.

It might be worth it if we get some Colosseums out of the deal.

Re: Rich person not guilty

[houghi]

As the US gives put names of people who are acused, the stick prices went down. This coyld be a nuce way to make sime money.

Wrong issue

[dave-man]

The important progress here is that law enforcement was called in. I'm tired--very tired--of colleges and universities, companies, football teams, and other private entities making a big deal out of internal investigations. Wrong. If there is a an allegation that is exactly what the justice system is for.