(Jia Yueting (second from left) addresses a press conference on Jan. 15 Source: Thepaper.cn)

Facing an alleged capital crunch, the CEO of Chinese technology group LeEco, Jia Yueting, for the first time responded to comments calling the company a “Ponzi scheme,” saying at a press conference on Jan. 15 that only “fools” and “backstage manipulators” would make such an argument.

According to Jia, the Ponzi scheme rhetoric originally came from a Chinese competitor, and was later adopted by U.S. politicians for political purposes.

The now famous criticism was leveled against LeEco in November by Nevada state treasurer Dan Schwartz, when construction of the company’s ambitious $1 billion electric vehicle factory in Nevada halted in response to the company’s financial difficulties.

Jia added that the Ponzi scheme rumors originated from a competitor “who spent so much time plotting against us, which is actually a good thing for LeEco." He went on to explain that LeEco does not see this rival as a threat, since the latter already lags far behind in "ambition and vision.”

“I am sure you all know who I am referring to,” he said, without offering any names.

Jia wrote on Sina Weibo last November that this unidentified company was the infamous backstage manipulator. The same day as Jia published his post, the company’s official Weibo posted a snapshot picture of what looked like a WeChat conversation between Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun and another user. Based on the photo, the user appeared to write that LeEco had unpaid debt of over 15 billion RMB, including more than 1 billion RMB due to suppliers, according to Thepaper.cn.

Xiaomi later denied participating in the dialogue, though some suppliers have reportedly accused LeEco of delaying payments.

“Society should create a friendly environment for entrepreneurs. This is an age for heroes not to mock, question or bring them down,” Jia said at the press conference.

Meanwhile, the company announced that it has received a strategic investment of 16.8 billion RMB from a consortium led by property developer Sunac China Holdings, which is expected to ease the company’s financial problems.