Evergrande's founder was sentenced to life in prison
A court in Shenzhen sentenced Hui Ka Yan (Xu Jiayin), the founder and former chairman of the Chinese real estate developer Evergrande, to life in prison. The court also ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets.
Hui Ka Yan was found guilty of a series of financial crimes, including fraud in fundraising, illegally accepting public deposits, embezzlement, and bribery. In April, the businessman pleaded guilty to the charges.
The collapse of Evergrande was one of the most striking manifestations of the crisis in the Chinese real estate market. The company had been in default since 2021, and its total liabilities were estimated at more than $300 billion.
The investigation found that between 2016 and 2021, Evergrande and its affiliated entities manipulated financial statements, specifically inflating figures and concealing the true extent of their liabilities.
In 2024, a Hong Kong court ordered the liquidation of Evergrande after the company failed to reach an agreement with creditors on debt restructuring.
As part of the same case, the court handed down sentences to 56 other individuals associated with Evergrande. Among them were executives and other company employees. They received prison terms ranging from nearly two to 18 years.
In addition, Evergrande and its main mainland entity, Hengda Real Estate, were fined a total of 15.82 billion yuan, which is approximately $2.36 billion.
The case of Hui Ka Yan has become one of the most high-profile trials related to the collapse of the Chinese real estate market and Evergrande’s debt crisis.
This was reported by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Xu Jiayin, founder of the Chinese real estate developer China Evergrande Group, pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including fraud and bribery. He also expressed remorse. The trial took place in China on April 13–14; the final verdict will be announced at a later date.
We also reported that a Chinese regulator accused Evergrande of overstating its revenue by $78 billion.
