Hui Ka Yan, founder of Chinese property developer Evergrande Group, has been sentenced to life in prison following his conviction on charges stemming from the company’s financial collapse. The 67-year-old, once China’s richest person, also had his personal property confiscated.
The development company completed over 30 tall building projects since 2013 in multiple Chinese cities including Ningbo, Wuhan, Chongqing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou. Over 20 of these completed projects were above 100 meters and a 394-meter building in Shenzhen had begun construction in 2019, only to be abandoned later.
Hui pleaded guilty in April 2026 to eight charges, including misuse of funds, fundraising fraud, illegally accepting public deposits, fraudulent securities issuance, and bribery. According to Chinese state media, Evergrande Group was fined 8.8 billion yuan, while its property division received a 7 billion yuan fine. More than 50 other individuals connected to the company were also sentenced, receiving prison terms ranging from 20 months to 18 years.
The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court found that Hui used large-scale financial fraud between 2016 and 2021 to inflate assets and conceal liabilities. Evergrande ultimately defaulted on much of its approximately $300 billion in liabilities and was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2025.
Founded by Hui in 1996, Evergrande grew into one of China’s largest property developers before becoming a central figure in the country’s real estate crisis. Its difficulties accelerated after China introduced tighter limits on developer debt in 2020, contributing to stalled construction projects and financial distress across the property sector.
Read more at The Guardian.