09.03 刘强东在美涉性侵短暂被捕

刘强东在美涉性侵短暂被捕

Chinese Billionaire Arrested in Minnesota in Sexual Misconduct Case

RAYMOND ZHONG, 袁莉

2018年9月3日

BEIJING — The billionaire founder of JD.com, one of China’s largest and most successful online retailers, was arrested Friday in Minnesota for alleged sexual misconduct before being released a day later, police records show.

北京——据警方记录，中国最大、最成功的在线零售商之一京东的亿万富翁创始人上周五在美国明尼苏达州因涉嫌不当性行为被捕，第二天被释放。

In a statement posted Sunday afternoon on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, JD.com said the executive, Liu Qiangdong — who goes by Richard Liu in the English speaking world — had been falsely accused. “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. “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.”

周日下午，京东在中国社交媒体平台微博上发表声明称，该公司高管刘强东（英文名为Richard Liu）受到不实指控。“刘强东先生在美国商务活动期间，遭遇到了失实指控，”该公司表示，“经过当地警方调查，未发现有任何不当行为，他将按照原计划继续其行程。”

Police in Minneapolis said they were treating the case as an active investigation.

明尼阿波利斯警方表示对此案的调查尚在进行中。

The matter is an another unwelcome bit of publicity for a company that symbolizes the business potential of China’s rising middle class. The accusation could also be a test of JD.com’s stability, as well as the ability of a Chinese technology company to rebound from the problems of its leaders. China’s most powerful technology companies are still tightly controlled by their founders, so the fortunes of businesses worth tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars are closely intertwined with the fates of a small number of executives.

对于一个代表着中国不断崛起的中产阶级商业潜能的公司来说，这是又一桩不利于其公众形象的事件。这项指控可能还会考验京东的稳定，以及中国科技公司从其领导人问题中恢复元气的能力。中国最强大的科技公司仍被其创始人牢牢控制，因此将价值数百亿甚至数千亿美元的企业与一小群高管的命运紧密交织在一起。

JD.com, whose shares trade in the United States, has prospered by catering to the increasing sophistication of Chinese shoppers. Big global brands such as Nike, Prada and Levi’s use JD.com’s sales platform to reach the country’s burgeoning middle class, and the company is closely watched as an indicator of consumer confidence.

通过迎合中国越来越成熟的购物者的需求，目前在美国上市的京东取得了极佳业绩。类似耐克(Nike)、普拉达(Prada)和李维斯(Levi’s)这样的大型全球品牌都会使用京东销售平台，触及中国不断壮大的中产阶级，该公司被作为一项消费者信心指数得到密切关注。

According to the jail roster for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office, Mr. Liu was taken into custody by the Minneapolis police late Friday on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and then freed Saturday afternoon without bail. In Minnesota, the term “criminal sexual conduct” covers a range of nonconsensual sexual contact.

根据亨内平县治安官办公室的收监名册，刘强东上周五晚间因涉嫌刑事性行为被明尼阿波利斯警方逮捕，周六下午在不需缴纳保释金的情况下释放。在明尼苏达州，“刑事性行为”这个说法涵盖了一系列非合意性接触。

A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department said Mr. Liu was released “pending formal complaint.” Spokesman John Elder said the police could have held Mr. Liu in custody through Tuesday, but did not feel that was necessary while they conducted their investigation.

明尼阿波利斯警察局发言人表示，获释的刘强东“尚待正式起诉”。发言人约翰·埃尔德(John Elder)称警方原本可以将刘强东关押至周二，但他们认为在展开调查期间没有必要这么做。

The police will, after the investigation, recommend to prosecutors whether Mr. Liu should be charged with a misdemeanor or felony or face no charges, at which point the case would be closed.

经过调查后，警方会向检方建议，应该以轻罪、重罪起诉刘强东，还是不起诉——届时该案将予以结案。

The company said that Mr. Liu’s trip would continue as planned, but a spokeswoman declined to comment further. When asked when Mr. Liu would return to China, the spokeswoman said she did not have that information. Mr. Liu didn’t respond to a request for comment.

京东表示刘强东的行程将按计划进行，但一名发言人拒绝进一步置评。当被问及刘强东是否会回中国时，这名发言人表示她不清楚。刘强东本人没有回应置评请求。

The arrest comes shortly after Mr. Liu was in the spotlight for another incident involving sexual misconduct. He tried to distance himself from a sexual assault that was said to have taken place after a 2015 party at his penthouse in Australia. A guest at the party, Longwei Xu, was found guilty this July of seven charges, including having sex with his accuser without her consent.

刘强东最近曾试图拉开自己与一起性侵犯事件的距离，那起事件据称发生在2015年刘强东在自己的澳大利亚顶层公寓举行的一次聚会之后。一名参加聚会的客人徐龙伟（音）被判犯有性侵。徐龙伟从事房地产开发工作，又名“汤米”(Tommy)。法院判他七项罪名成立，包括未经原告同意与其发生性关系。

Mr. Liu has not been charged with a crime or accused of any wrongdoing in that case. But he tried to get an Australian court to prevent the release of his name in connection with the case by citing potential damage to his marriage and business, court documents show. In July, a judge in Australia rejected his request for a suppression order.

在那起案件中，刘强东未受到指控或者被控有任何不当行为。但法庭文件显示，他曾试图向一家澳大利亚法院提出申请，以可能损害他的婚姻和生意为由，阻止此案公布他的名字。今年7月，澳大利亚的一名法官拒绝了他提出的禁制令要求。

JD.com is a heavyweight in China’s technology scene, and Mr. Liu, its chairman and chief executive since its 2004 founding, is one of its leading lights. Legal troubles for Mr. Liu could darken perceptions overall of JD.com, whose shares trade on the Nasdaq stock market in New York and have a market value of around $50 billion.

京东是中国科技领域的重量级企业，自2004年成立以来一直担任京东董事局主席和首席执行官的刘强东是京东的中坚力量之一。他在法律上的麻烦，可能会损害京东的形象。京东在纽约纳斯达克上市，市值约500亿美元。

The company competes with Alibaba, the country’s largest e-commerce provider, for the attention of China’s increasingly affluent middle class, and says it has more than 300 million customers. It specializes in electronics such as smartphones and appliances.

该公司与中国最大的电子商务供应商阿里巴巴展开竞争，争夺中国日益富裕的中产阶级的关注。京东表示自己拥有超过3亿顾客。智能手机和家电等电子产品是它的专长经营门类。

Alibaba and JD.com are both trying to lure high-end global brands to open virtual stores on their sales platforms. Alibaba says it has more than 570 million customers across its Chinese marketplaces.

阿里巴巴和京东都在试图吸引国际高端品牌在自己的销售平台上开设网店。阿里巴巴表示，它在中国市场拥有超过5.7亿顾客。

Whereas Alibaba operates platforms on which outside merchants sell their wares to consumers, JD.com’s business model is more like Amazon’s. It typically buys products from manufacturers and stores them in its own warehouses. JD.com has also invested in its own logistics network, which the company says helps provide quicker, more reliable delivery than Alibaba can offer. The company’s major shareholders include Google and the Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent.

阿里巴巴运营的是供外部商家销售产品的平台，而京东的商业模式则更像亚马逊。它通常会从制造商那里购买产品，然后存放在自己的仓库中。京东还投资建立了自己的物流网络，它表示，这有助于提供比阿里巴巴更快、更可靠的配送服务。京东的主要股东包括谷歌和中国的互联网集团腾讯。

For many companies with shops on the platform, JD.com offers a way into an exciting market. China’s dramatic economic rise has meant that hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers are no longer content with shoddily made goods, and are ready to pay more for quality.

对于许多在这个平台上设有店铺的企业来说，通过京东可以有机会接触到一个激动人心的市场。中国经济的大幅增长意味着数以亿计的中国消费者不再满足于粗制滥造的产品，而是愿意花钱买品质。

But as the economy has shown signs of a slowdown in recent months, JD.com has suffered too. Last month it reported disappointing financial results, citing increasing competition.

不过，随着中国经济在最近几个月出现放缓的迹象，京东也受到了影响。上个月，该公司的业绩令人失望，它给出的理由是竞争的加剧。

China’s technology scene is young — many of its most influential companies were founded only in the past two decades — and company founders like Mr. Liu tend to retain outsize influence on their businesses, even as they grow large and list on public stock exchanges. Founders control voting rights and have ultimate say in matters large and small. Their personalities seep into the corporate culture.

中国的科技领域还很年轻，许多最具影响力的公司都是在过去的20年里成立的；而像刘强东这样的公司创始人往往对他们的企业保持着巨大的影响力，即便它们规模不断扩大，并且在证交所上市。创始人控制着投票权，在大大小小的事务上都拥有最终决定权。他们的个性渗入在了企业文化中。

Mr. Liu was born in a poor part of Jiangsu Province in eastern China in the 1970s. When he earned a place at the prestigious Renmin University in Beijing, other people in the village scraped together cash and boiled eggs to sustain him in the capital.

刘强东于上世纪70年代出生在中国东部江苏省的一个贫困地区。考上北京著名的中国人民大学后，村里的乡亲们凑了钱和煮鸡蛋供他去首都求学。

In the past, Mr. Liu has spent one day a year wearing JD.com’s red uniform, riding an electric bike and making home deliveries. He likes to say that as the son of a poor family, he wants to treat his employees with fairness and respect.

过去，刘强东每年都会有一天穿上京东的红色制服，骑着电动自行车去送货。他喜欢说，作为一个贫困家庭的孩子，他希望以公平和尊重对待员工。