Chinese internet company LeEco, which operates the LeSports online streaming platform, has had some of its assets frozen by a court in Shanghai.
China Merchants Bank made the application due to late interest payments from one of LeEco’s subsidiaries, Leview Mobile.
CMB’s application was approved by the Shanghai High People's Court, which ordered assets of RMB1.237bn ($182m) to be frozen across Leview, two other LeEco-linked companies, as well as chief executive Jia Yueting and his wife. The Reuters news agency said that the June 26 order had been implemented with immediate effect.
CMB said: “CMB's Shanghai branch repeatedly urged repayment without success and so sought to use legal means.”
Jia said recently that LeEco’s financial predicament was “far worse than expected.”
A spokesperson for LeEco added: “Our senior executives are currently in close communication with various financing units of CMB, and we hope to resolve the related debt issue very soon.”
LeSports invested aggressively in sports rights in 2015 and 2016, but earlier this year its rights deal with the Asian Football Confederation in China, due to run until 2020, was curtailed.