A court in Shenzhen, China, has sentenced Hui Ka Yan, the founder of property developer Evergrande, to life in prison and imposed fines totaling $2.3 billion against the company. The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court convicted Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, of large-scale financial fraud involving the inflation of company assets and the concealment of liabilities. The court also found that Hui abused his position in orchestrating financial fraud and misappropriating company funds.
Several other senior executives at Evergrande received prison sentences of up to 18 years on charges related to illegally taking public deposits and fraud. The parent Evergrande group was fined 8.82 billion yuan, approximately $1.31 billion, while Evergrande Real Estate Group was fined 7 billion yuan, or roughly $1.04 billion.
Hui had pleaded guilty in April to multiple charges including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud, and bribery following his arrest. Investigations by authorities in Hong Kong and mainland China determined that Evergrande had manipulated its financial data through methods such as booking revenue from property sales before apartments were completed and delivered to buyers. These authorities stated that revenues were overstated by approximately $80 billion over 2019 and 2020.
Evergrande, founded in 1996, defaulted on its debts in 2021 after carrying more than $300 billion in liabilities. The developer’s collapse followed regulatory crackdowns on excessive borrowing in the real estate sector and triggered broader challenges for the Chinese property market and economy.
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