JD.Com CEO Probe in Minnesota Is Turned Over to Prosecutors

(Bloomberg) -- The Minneapolis Police Department has turned the investigation of JD.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Liu Qiangdong over to prosecutors.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Thursday that the police department completed its initial investigation into allegations of sexual assault against the Chinese executive. Now prosecutors will make a decision on whether to bring charges, Freeman said in a statement. There is no deadline for making that decision.

Liu was arrested in Minnesota earlier this month on suspicion of rape, and was released less than 24 hours later. He immediately flew home to China. JD.com is the country’s largest e-commerce company after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., backed by investors from social media titan Tencent Holdings Ltd. to American names Walmart Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Liu, 45, has led the $45 billion business since its founding and controls the business through special voting rights.

The executive was in Minnesota as a student at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in its Doctor of Business Administration program.

To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Schuetz in New York at mschuetz9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Giles Turner, Molly Schuetz

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