LQR House Appoints Lihong "Leo" Chen as CEO and Kit Yan "Mark" Lau as CFO

LQR House appointed Lihong "Leo" Chen as Chief Executive Officer and Kit Yan "Mark" Lau as Chief Financial Officer, effective October 16, 2026, following the resignations of Sean Dollinger as CEO and Kumar Abhishek as CFO, TradingView reported.

Chen and Lau Take Over LQR House Leadership

Chen brings more than 10 years of finance experience to the CEO role. He served as Chairman of Shenzhen Jincheng Confidentiality Technology Co., Ltd. From May 2022 to August 2026, and before that was General Manager of the Financing Department at Beijing Energy International Holdings from May 2016 to May 2022. At Beijing Energy International Holdings, Chen managed financing for 21 power station projects totaling over $1 billion. He holds a Bachelor of Management in Financial Management from Guangdong University of Finance and Economics and a Master of Economics from the University of Sydney.

Lau is a licensed accountant who has held financial leadership roles including CFO and finance manager at companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He is a member of CISI and the Institute of Public Accountants (Australia), a Certified ESG Planner, and an Associate Member of The Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute. Lau holds degrees in accounting from Hong Kong Baptist University and the University of South Australia.

Abhishek's resignation as CFO was not the result of any disagreement with the company on operations, policies, or practices, according to the filing. The reason for Dollinger's resignation was not disclosed, and the filing references a Resignation Agreement. No board or committee role changes were disclosed for any of the four individuals.

LQR House's ByteDance Agreement and CEO Settlement

LQR House announced on June 26, 2026, that its subsidiary YHC AI Limited signed a two-year agreement with BytePlus Pte. Ltd., a ByteDance group company, to deploy the ByteDance ModelArk AI computing platform for Fusion Five Continents Securities, FinancialContent Business Page reported. Earlier in June 2026, LQR House confirmed it was in advanced negotiations with ByteDance for a strategic relationship spanning ByteDance's artificial intelligence vertical, including enterprise AI models and infrastructure, according to Gurufocus.

On October 16, 2026, LQR House agreed to sell all shares of its cwspirits.com operator to Boston Crest as part of a CEO settlement, TradingView reported. The deal involves no cash purchase price, with closing expected within 60 days, and the transaction is part of the leadership transition.

Boston Crest Divestiture Closing Timeline

The divestiture of the cwspirits.com operator to Boston Crest is expected to close within 60 days of the October 16, 2026 agreement, according to TradingView.