Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp, the listed arm of LeEco, announced on Wednesday night that the company's founder Jia Yueting has been placed on an official blacklist of debt defaulters, according to its announcement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Jia Yueting's name and ID number were posted on China's defaulter website after he failed to satisfy a court order to pay Ping An Securities Group (Holdings) more than 470 million yuan ($71 million), according to a notice dated December 11.
The move underscores the abrupt fall from grace of one of China's most prominent entrepreneurs, who created an empire ranging from a Netflix-like online content platform to a smart-car unit looking to rival electric car giant Tesla Inc.
The latest development, which follows court cases and Jia being ousted as chief executive of the main listed unit of the group he founded, is symbolic more than anything else of the company's wider demise.
Being put on the list means a person can be restricted from using luxury hotels, purchasing airline and high-speed train tickets, going to golf courses, sending children to expensive schools and even shopping online for luxury goods.
Representatives of LeEco and Jia were not immediately available to comment on the report.
The entertainment, electronics and electric vehicles group has struggled to pay its debts after rapid expansion led to a cash crunch, share price plunge and multiple defaults.
Jia expanded his business from its video-streaming roots 13 years ago to include telephones, televisions and cars, and had even looked to push into the US. At its peak LeEco owed creditors 10 billion yuan.
Jia was still talking about his dream to "revolutionize the auto industry" via his start-up Faraday Future after he stepped down as CEO from listed Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp Beijing in July.
China's Supreme People's Court set up the debt defaulter website in 2013 to speed up compliance with verdicts and make court work more transparent.
Media reported in August that LeEco was in the midst of paying back an overdue loan and was discussing repayments of a larger loan with China Construction Bank Corp.
LeEco's troubles first came to light in 2016 when Jia said that it had "big-company disease".
Jia vowed to repay all debts in July, as a response to public concern over LeEco's capital crunch and accusations about its financing problems, according to earlier media reports.
