Evergrande Founder Hui Ka Yan Sentenced to Life in Prison (2026-08-20)

Hui Ka Yan, the founder of China Evergrande Group, was sentenced to life in prison by a Shenzhen court on Thursday, concluding a years-long legal saga tied to the collapse of the world's most-indebted property developer. The court also ordered the confiscation of his personal property, stating that the crimes "should be severely punished according to law."

The sentencing follows a guilty plea in April 2026, when Hui admitted to eight charges, including misuse of funds, fundraising fraud, and illegally taking public deposits. Alongside the founder's sentence, Evergrande was fined 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion), and its main subsidiary Hengda Real Estate was fined 7 billion yuan. Five other senior executives received fines and prison terms ranging from six to 18 years.

The crisis at Evergrande, once China's top-selling developer, became public in 2021 when construction halted at many projects due to overdue payments. The company subsequently defaulted on most of its $300 billion in liabilities and was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August 2025 after failing to resume trading.

Key milestones in the collapse include missed bond payments in September 2021, a suspension of share trading in March 2022, and a Hong Kong court liquidation order in January 2024. The company's liquidators have since received creditor claims totalling $45 billion and sold $255 million of assets.

Regulatory actions have also targeted the firm's auditors. In September 2025, China suspended PwC's mainland unit for six months and fined it a record 441 million yuan over its audit of Evergrande. PwC Hong Kong later settled with the city's securities watchdog, setting aside HK$1 billion ($130 million) for minority shareholders, while Evergrande's liquidators sought 57 billion yuan in damages from the firm in May 2026.