Founder of China’s Evergrande jailed for life after pleading guilty to fraud
Hui Ka Yan also forfeits all his personal property and the company he set up is given hefty fines Business live – latest updates The founder of Evergrande, one of China’s largest property developers, has been sentenced to life in prison and had all of his personal property confiscated. Hui Ka Yan, 67 and once named by Forbes as China’s richest man, with a net worth of $42.5bn (£31.2bn) in 2017,…
Hui Ka Yan, the founder of Evergrande, China's largest property developer, has been sentenced to life in prison and had all personal assets seized. The 67-year-old, once labeled China's richest man with a $42.5bn fortune in 2017, pleaded guilty to eight charges in April, including fund misuse, fundraising fraud, illegally obtaining public deposits, and bribery.
Evergrande Group and its property arm were fined 8.8bn yuan ($1.1bn) and 7bn yuan ($0.95bn) respectively by the Shenzhen intermediate people's court. The court ruled that Hui's actions, committed between 2016 and 2021, severely disrupted China's socialist market economy, causing heavy economic losses. Over 50 Evergrande-linked individuals received prison terms ranging from 20 months to 18 years.
The company's collapse, marked by a $300bn debt default, triggered a $347bn economic loss in China due to the 2020 government regulations limiting property sector debt. Hui, born into poverty in rural Henan province, set up Evergrande in 1996, attributing his success to the Chinese Communist Party in a 2018 statement.
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