LA Times suspends Beijing bureau chief amid misconduct probe

BEIJING – The Los Angeles Times has suspended the head of its Beijing bureau after he was accused of sexual misconduct for a second time.

The LA Times said in a report Wednesday that it is investigating allegations made by a former Wall Street Journal editor against Jonathan Kaiman, who was accused of sexual misconduct by another woman in January.

Felicia Somnez, who has reported for the WSJ and Agence France-Presse in China, detailed Kaiman's "problematic behavior" in an email shared with the Foreign Correspondents Club of China on Tuesday night. Somnez says in her account that while parts of her encounter with Kaiman were consensual, he "escalated things in a way that crossed the line."

Kaiman said in a statement that "all of the acts we engaged in were mutually consensual."