Richard Liu likely paid big price to settle suit by University of Minnesota student accusing him of rape, experts say

Legal experts believe that Chinese billionaire Richard Liu paid a huge price to settle the lawsuit brought against him by a former University of Minnesota student who alleged he raped her in Minneapolis in 2018.

Neither side has disclosed the terms of the settlement announced Saturday, which the parties — who are not related — reached just as the civil trial was scheduled to kick off this week in Hennepin County District Court.

The parties issued a joint statement on the settlement, describing the dispute as "a misunderstanding" and saying they settled "to avoid further pain and suffering caused by the lawsuit." They said they would have no further comment.

Chinese student Jingyao Liu, now 25, accused defendant Liu, 48, of sexually assaulting her in his chauffeur-driven SUV after getting her drunk at a dinner party, then driving her to her apartment where he raped her.

Richard Liu, the founder and chair of JD.com, a large Chinese e-commerce retailer, contended the sex was consensual. He has a reported net worth of $11 billion and is one of the richest men in China.

Hovering over him and his phalanx of attorneys was a pre-trial decision by Hennepin District Judge Edward Wahl: If the jury concluded the plaintiff had been raped, Liu could be subject not only to compensatory damages for pain and suffering but also punitive damages to punish and deter him.

A decision on punitive damages would have come in a second trial phase, when Liu's assets would have been examined. The jury then would have had to determine what amount of money would adequately punish him.

Sieben said he thinks Jingyao Liu's attorneys would have asked for $100 million in punitive damages, "because you want to get his attention, you want to set an example to society for conduct that is not appropriate."

Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who has represented many victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, said he believes the plaintiff's attorneys would have sought at least $100 million had it reached the punitive damage stage. He thinks the settlement was big: "This guy's paid tens of millions to have this go away."

"The settlement sends a message to the public that if you take advantage of someone there will be a very significant price to pay for the untoward act," Sieben said.

Joseph Daly, an emeritus professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, said that compensatory damages also could have been high because the plaintiff claimed post-traumatic stress disorder, which he said can require a lifetime of treatment.

Daly said he suspected both sides argued long and hard over describing the incident as a "misunderstanding" in their joint statement. That was a way for Richard Liu to tell China — as well as his wife — that it was consensual sex rather than rape, Daly said.

"He undoubtedly wanted to avoid all the continuing adverse publicity," he said.

Months after the suit was filed in 2019, Richard Liu was forced to step down from his position on a major advisory committee to the Chinese Communist Party. Earlier this year he resigned as CEO of JD.com, though he remained its chair.

Despite efforts by Chinese authorities to clamp down on social media favorable to Jingyao Liu, the surging MeToo movement in China has continued to find ways to get out information on different platforms supporting her.

On Sunday, the day after the case was settled, a group of Chinese American supporters who had flown in to attend the trial gathered outside the Hennepin County Government Center to raise a banner and practice chants in Mandarin supporting Jingyao Liu. It was recorded on video to send back to China.

Anderson called Jingyao Liu "a very courageous survivor" who took on a titan.

Richard Liu was represented by a group of attorneys including former acting U.S. Attorney John Marti and lawyers with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a Los Angeles-based firm with offices in two dozen cities around the world, including Hong Kong.

Jingyao Liu's attorneys, led by Wil Florin with the Florida-based Florin Roebig firm, heavily invested time and money in the case. As a result of the settlement, they are likely to receive between 33% and 40% of the payout, a typical percentage.