Hui Ka Yan, the 67-year-old founder and former chairman of China Evergrande Group, has been sentenced to life in prison by the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. The ruling comes five years after the collapse of the world's most-indebted property developer shook the nation's economy and financial markets.
Hui pleaded guilty in April to eight charges, including large-scale fraud, fundraising and securities fraud. The charges also encompassed the misuse of funds, illegally taking public deposits, and illegally extending loans.
Along with the prison sentence, the court ordered the confiscation of all of Hui's personal property. Evergrande-related companies were issued hefty fines totaling 15.82 billion yuan, or approximately $2.4 billion.
Once named by Forbes as China’s richest man with a net worth of $42.5 billion in 2017, Hui's downfall exemplifies the country's real estate boom and bust. Evergrande collapsed with more than $300 billion in liabilities, setting off a prolonged crisis in the Chinese property sector.
A day after the sentencing, a court accepted a liquidation against Evergrande’s property development unit, marking a pivotal moment in the fallout of the empire's collapse.