Billionaire founder of China's Evergrande pleads guilty to fraud & bribery, could face life sentence

The founder of China's Evergrande Group, Hui Ka Yan, has pleaded guilty to eight charges including fundraising fraud, misuse ​of funds, illegally taking public deposits, and corporate bribery, a court in Shenzhen said on Apr. 14.

The trial took place over Apr. 13 and 14, and the judgement will be delivered at a later date.

According to the court, Hui expressed remorse during the trial.

He has not been seen in public since 2023, when Chinese authorities detained him on suspicion of criminal activity.

Evergrande's collapse

Evergrande, once China's biggest real estate developer, is also the world's most indebted one, according to Reuters.

Since 2021, the company has defaulted on most of its US$300 billion (S$381 billion) in liabilities.

It was among several Chinese developers that defaulted after regulators began cracking down on excessive borrowing in the property sector in 2020.

In 2024, Evergrande was ordered to be liquidated by a Hong Kong court.

But as of August 2025, only about US$255 million (S$324 million) of its assets had been sold, out of US$45 billion (S$57 billion) debt claims submitted.

Hui's downfall

Formerly a steel technician, Hui founded Evergrande in 1996.

He became Asia's richest man in 2017 with an estimated fortune of US$42.2 billion (S$54 billion), according to Forbes.

Following the company's financial woes, his net worth fell to about US$3 billion (S$3.8 billion) in 2023.

In 2024, China's securities regulator found that Evergrande inflated its sales by RMB 564 billion (S$105 billion) in the years prior to its collapse, South China Morning Post reported.

As a result, it fined Hui RMB 47 million (S$8.7 million) and barred him for life from accessing the capital markets.

Faces a life sentence

Hui could get jail for life and have his property confiscated as the maximum penalties for illegal fundraising, Reuters reported.

Bribery can also carry a life term.

A lawyer at a Shanghai firm that represented investors in Evergrande's debt told Reuters, "The chances are extremely ​high that Hui will receive life sentences, given the amount of money involved, the number of victims, and the associated financial risks and social impact are almost unprecedented in China."

Top images from Visual China Group and Sina.com.cn