Assets linked to Chinese tech giant LeEco have been frozen in a dispute with a creditor, a unit of the troubled company has confirmed, highlighting its perilous financial state. Chinese financial magazine Caixin first reported Monday that a Shanghai court had ordered the freezing of 1.237 billion yuan ($182 million) in assets connected to LeEco, its subsidiaries, and billionaire founder Jia Yueting.
The court ruling was in response to legal action brought by China Merchants Bank over unpaid loans to a LeEco smartphone unit, Leview Mobile. LeEco was founded in 2004 by Jia to provide online video streaming but has since launched aggressive forays into self-driving cars, smartphones, film-making, and sports broadcasting rights that have plunged it into a cash crunch. In a statement late Tuesday to the Shenzhen stock exchange, Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corporation - a listed LeEco subsidiary - said 519 million of its shares owned by Jia, which were used as collateral in the loans, had been frozen by the court.