Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan, once Asias richest man, sentenced to life in prison after property giants collapse

The founder of China Evergrande Group, the world’s most-indebted property developer, was sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court on Thursday, five years after the firm’s collapse shook the nation’s economy and financial markets.Hui Ka Yan, once Asia’s richest man, pleaded guilty in April to eight charges, including misuse of funds, fundraising fraud, illegally taking public deposits, illegally extending loans, fraudulently issuing securities and bribery.Evergrande, once China’s premier developer, has defaulted on most of its $300 billion in liabilities, its troubles symbolizing a crisis in the property sector that has long dragged on the world’s second-biggest economy.The sentence in the southern city of Shenzhen, which included confiscating all of Hui’s personal property, ends his rags-to-riches story but is unlikely to bring much solace to Evergrande’s domestic and foreign creditors.Evergrande’s liquidators declined to comment on the sentence.Reuters could not reach legal representatives for Hui, who had not been seen in public since Chinese authorities detained him in 2023, following Evergrande’s default.In pictures released by the court, a grey-haired Hui, 67, stood flanked by two officers, wearing a long-sleeved, navy blue collared shirt, as the court read out his sentence.“The criminal acts of Evergrande Group, Hengda Real Estate, and Hui Ka Yan … involved particularly huge amounts and egregious circumstances, caused particularly significant economic losses and caused particularly serious social harm, and should be severely punished according to law,” the court said in a statement.Comments by Evergrande homeowners in a social media group included: “All ordinary citizens have paid the cost,” “Imprisonment is meant to protect him.

If he comes out, his life is in jeopardy” and “What about our money?”In addition to Hui’s sentence, the court said it had fined Evergrande 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion)...