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Life Sentence in Shenzhen
China Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday by a Chinese court in Shenzhen, which ordered all his personal property confiscated.
“was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday by a Chinese court”
Reuters said Hui pleaded guilty in April to eight charges including misuse of funds, fundraising fraud and illegally taking public deposits.
The Reuters report said the court fined Evergrande 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) and its main subsidiary Hengda Real Estate 7 billion yuan, and sentenced five other senior executives to fines and prison terms ranging from six to 18 years.
The BBC reported that Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court also fined Evergrande Group 8.82bn yuan and ordered its real estate unit to pay 7bn yuan, while Hui pleaded guilty in April to charges including embezzlement of assets and corporate bribery.
Charges and Court Verdict
CNN said the life sentence came after state media reported that Hui Ka Yan was ordered to forfeit all his personal assets and was stripped of all political rights for life.
CNN quoted the verdict saying, "The criminal conduct of China Evergrande Group, Evergrande Real Estate, and Hui Ka Yan seriously disrupted the order of the socialist market economy".
The SRN News report, citing an AP account, said the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Hui Ka Yan to life in prison for large-scale fraud and fined Evergrande Group 8.82 billion yuan and Evergrande Real Estate 7 billion yuan.
The SRN News report also said Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, pleaded guilty in April to a series of charges including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud and corporate bribery.
Aftermath for Creditors
Reuters said Hui's sentence ends his rags-to-riches story but is unlikely to bring much solace to Evergrande's domestic and foreign creditors.
“is unlikely to bring much solace to Evergrande's domestic and foreign creditors”
The BBC said the sentencing marks a key moment in the fallout from Evergrande's collapse, which shook China's property sector and hit investors and domestic banks hard.
The BBC reported that in March 2024, Hui was fined $6.5m and banned from China's capital market for life for his company overstating its revenue by $78bn.
The BBC also reported that Evergrande's stock market valuation shrank by 99% before its shares were removed from the Hong Kong exchange in August 2025 after more than a decade and a half of trading.
