Liu was the second ministerial-level official to hand in to anti-corruption authorities since the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in late 2012.
He was tapped for the role upon the dismissal of Xiao Gang, after a tumultuous year in the Chinese stock market that led to huge investor losses.
At the CSRC, Liu was known to have decreased the backlog of approvals for companies awaiting IPO on China's stock markets.
[9][10][11] On October 4, 2019, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement that Liu was found to have severely violated political discipline and political rules, received gifts and used his power and position to seek personal gain for others, made illegal arrangements for others to work in the financial system and job promotion.
[12] Liu was placed on two-year probation within the Party, and demoted to first-level investigator (一级调研员), a non-leading position somewhat equivalent to the official of section rank (正处级; zhengchuji).