China sentences Evergrande founder Hui to life in prison

China Evergrande Group’s founder Hui Ka Yan has been sentenced to life in prison and his former companies fined 15.82 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), cementing the downfall of a property tycoon who exemplified the country’s real estate boom and bust.

The fallen real estate magnate will also have his assets confiscated, according to the official Xinhua News Agency on Thursday. In April, he had pleaded guilty in a Chinese court to charges including fundraising fraud and bribery.

Hong Kong-listed Evergrande was fined 8.82 billion yuan, while its onshore unit Hengda Real Estate was fined 7 billion yuan. The two corporate entities had inflated assets and concealed liabilities “in a sustained, large scale manner,” the report said.

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The court sentenced another 56 people with charges related to Evergrande, including Hui’s sons Xu Zhijian and Xu Tenghe. The sentences ranged from 22 months to 18 years, according to Xinhua.

“The amount involved in the crime is exceptionally large, the circumstances are particularly heinous, exceptionally heavy economic losses have been caused, and the harm to society is extremely grave,” the report said.

Once Asia’s second-richest man, Hui joins a long list of billionaires to fall under the Chinese government’s dragnet. His sprawling empire that spanned real estate to electric vehicles was forced into liquidation in 2024, as China’s property downturn persists.

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