Jia Yueting, the founder of Chinese tech company LeEco, has defied an order to return to the country to address mounting debts.
In December, Jia was placed on a debt defaulter blacklist by a Beijing court. Last month, the China Securities Regulatory Commission ordered him to return to China.
Jia has said that he needs to stay in the US to raise funds for his electric car business and added that his brother, Jia Yuemin, met the regulator on his behalf to provide an update.
“I am deeply sorry and blame myself for the negative impact of LeEco’s debt crisis,” he said on his official WeChat social media account. “The fundraising for Faraday Future in the United States is making significant progress and there are many tasks I need to push forward in order to ensure the production and timely delivery of the FF91 (electric vehicle).”
Jia was placed on the blacklist after failing to fulfil a court order to pay Ping An Securities Group more than RMB470m (€60m/$71m). Ping An Securities is reported to have been a key investor in LeEco.
LeEco's sports-media subsidiary, LeSports, has offloaded sports rights over the past year amid cost-cutting measures at its parent company.
Jia stepped down as LeEco chief executive in July and in September he agreed to sell the majority of his stake in LeSports.