LeEco founder defies Chinese return order, sends family instead

FILE PHOTO: Jia Yueting, co-founder and head of Le Holdings Co Ltd, also known as LeEco and formerly as LeTV, poses for a photo in front of a logo of his company after a Reuters interview at LeEco headquarters in Beijing, China April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Le/File Photo

BEIJING: Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jia Yueting (pic) has defied orders from regulators to return home and help a listed technology company he founded resolve crushing debt, saying he needed to stay in the US to work on his electric car startup.

In his first official response to the directive from China’s securities regulator, Jia said via his official Weibo social media account that he needed to oversee Faraday & Future Inc. His brother Jia Yuemin and wife Gan Wei have been empowered to handle affairs with the Shenzhen-listed firm, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp.