China Evergrande Founder Hui Ka Yan Sentenced to Life in Prison for Fraud

Hui Ka Yan—better known as Xu Jiayin—the founder and former chairman of China Evergrande Group, just got hit with a life sentence in Shenzhen. The court found him guilty on several serious charges: bribery, fraudulent fundraising, misuse of company funds, and major financial misrepresentation.

It’s been five years since Evergrande, once China’s top property developer, imploded. That collapse didn’t just rock China—it sent tremors through global financial markets. Investigators discovered that between 2016 and 2021, Hui and his company hid massive debts, cooked the books on assets, and exaggerated revenues by tens of billions of dollars. Investors and regulators were kept in the dark.

Now, Hui loses all his personal assets, and he’s stripped of his civil rights for life. The court fined Evergrande about 15.82 billion yuan (roughly 2 billion euros), and its subsidiary Hengda Real Estate owes another 7 billion yuan.

The judge didn’t hold back. He called the crimes “particularly huge” with “egregious circumstances,” pointing out the deep economic damage and social fallout. Alongside Hui, five other top Evergrande executives are heading to prison, serving sentences from six to 18 years, plus hefty fines.

This case stands out. It’s one of the harshest punishments ever handed to a Chinese business leader, sending a message that Beijing is serious about cleaning up the property sector and cracking down on financial misconduct.