Lawsuits and investigations are an opportunity for Alibaba Group Holding to be better understood, founder and executive chairman Jack Ma Yun said in an interview during the weekend.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched a probe earlier this year into the Chinese e-commerce firm's accounting practices to determine whether they violated federal laws. Questions about Alibaba's growth rate and its relations with affiliated companies have dogged the firm for years.

"If you want to sue us, sue us," Ma said.

"It's an opportunity for us to let them understand what we're doing," he told Reuters, saying he had complied with SEC requests but did not know when the US agency would respond with a finding.

Ma was speaking after the first day of a two-day philanthropy conference hosted by the Alibaba Foundation, a charitable organization established by the group.

He said Alibaba had been transparent and provided the SEC with everything it had asked for.

In 2014, the now 51-year-old Ma and Joe Tsai, Alibaba's co-founder, pledged share options worth about $3 billion at the time to a newly established charitable trust in the biggest donation of its kind in China.

It took the Jack Ma Foundation a year to register, said Ma.