{
  "id": 2093560,
  "title": "Evergrande-Gründer muss lebenslang ins Gefängnis",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/evergrande-grunder-muss-lebenslang-ins-gefangnis",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-20T07:04:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "NZZ Wirtschaft",
    "slug": "nzz-wirtschaft",
    "url": "https://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/evergrande-gruender-muss-lebenslang-ins-gefaengnis-ld.10020275"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "The collapse of the property development company Evergrande has become a symbol of China's real estate crisis. Now, the company's founder, Xu Jiayin, has been sentenced to life in prison. His entire wealth is also being seized (dpa). The Middle People's Court in Shenzhen convicted Xu Jiayin, also known internationally as Hui Ka Yan, on eight economic crimes, according to state broadcaster Xinhua. The court stripped Xu of his political rights and ordered the seizure of his entire personal wealth. Xu admitted guilt and expressed remorse during his trial in April. The court also imposed separate fines on two of the company's subsidiaries. Evergrande Group must pay 8.82 billion Yuan, roughly 1.1 billion Euros, and Evergrande Real Estate Company faces a fine of 7 billion Yuan, roughly 900 million Euros. Court findings revealed that Xu and the companies continued to falsify financial data from 2016 to 2021, inflating assets and concealing liabilities. Consequently, Evergrande and Xu secured control over financial institutions through bribery and obtained the company's illegitimate credit and insurance funds. Other courts in Shenzhen sentenced 56 people from the company's environment to prison terms ranging from one year and ten months to 18 years on the same day. Evergrande rapidly grew during China's property boom and was once one of the country's largest property developers. When Beijing limited borrowing for financially over-indebted builders in 2020, the company's financial problems worsened. At the end of 2021, Evergrande defaulted on international bonds. As of June 30, 2023, the company's liabilities totaled 2.39 trillion Yuan, roughly 305 billion Euros. Its collapse became a symbol of the ongoing real estate crisis in China. A court in Hong Kong ordered the liquidation of Evergrande's listed holding company in January 2024 after no feasible refinancing was achieved. In August 2025, the Evergrande stock was removed from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.",
  "summary": "Der Zusammenbruch des Immobilienunternehmens wurde zum Symbol für Chinas Immobilienkrise. Nun verurteilt ein Gericht Gründer Xu Jiayin zu lebenslanger Haft. Auch sein gesamtes Vermögen wird eingezogen.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}