Hui Ka Yan: Founder of Collapsed Chinese Property Giant Evergrande Sentenced to Life in Prison

• A Chinese court handed Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan a life sentence and confiscated all of his personal assets
• Hui pleaded guilty in April to embezzlement and corporate bribery charges linked to the collapse of China's biggest property developer
• Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court also fined Evergrande's former companies a combined 15.82bn yuan over multiple financial crimes

Hui Ka Yan, the founder of collapsed Chinese property developer Evergrande, has been sentenced to life imprisonment and stripped of all personal assets following his conviction on charges of embezzlement and corporate bribery.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court handed down the sentence on Monday, also imposing fines totalling 15.82 billion yuan (approximately £1.73 billion or $2.35 billion) on Hui's former companies for offences including falsifying financial records and concealing debt from regulators and investors.

Hui, also known by his Mandarin name Xu Jiayin, entered guilty pleas in April to multiple charges. During proceedings, the court heard that Evergrande had diverted pre-sale funds collected from prospective homebuyers away from construction and into new property developments elsewhere, leaving hundreds of projects unfinished across China.

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The court stated that Hui and his businesses "seriously disrupted" the country's property market and caused substantial economic losses.

Several other Evergrande executives, including Hui's two sons Xu Zhijian and Xu Tenghe, received custodial sentences ranging from 22 months to 18 years, according to state media.

Rise and Fall of a Property Empire

Hui grew up in rural China, raised by his grandmother before entering the property industry and founding Evergrande in 1996. Through an aggressive expansion strategy financed heavily by borrowing, he transformed the firm into China's largest real estate developer, reaching a stock market valuation of over $50 billion and earning Hui the title of Asia's richest person at his peak.

The company's fortunes began to unravel in 2020 when Beijing introduced measures to curb excessive debt levels across the property sector. Unable to service its obligations, Evergrande began selling properties at steep discounts before formally collapsing in 2021.

In March 2024, regulators fined Hui $6.5 million and permanently barred him from China's capital markets after his company was found to have overstated revenue by $78 billion. Evergrande's share price ultimately shed 99% of its value before the Hong Kong Stock Exchange removed the stock from trading in August 2025 after more than 15 years of listing.

Source: YEN.com.gh