China's Once-Richest Man Just Got Life In Prison — And Lost Everything He Ever Owned

The man who was once China's richest person is now heading to prison for the rest of his life — and he's lost absolutely everything.

Hui Ka Yan, the 67-year-old founder of Evergrande Group, has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to eight charges including fraud, bribery, and misuse of funds, according to The Guardian.

The court also ordered that all of his personal property be confiscated. Yes, all of it.

From Billionaire To Prison

This is the dramatic fall of a man who was named by Forbes as China's richest person in 2017, with a net worth of $42.5 billion.

Hui founded Evergrande in 1996 after growing up in poverty in rural Henan province, raised by his grandmother. The company became one of China's largest property developers, with the real estate sector traditionally accounting for between one-quarter and one-third of China's entire GDP.

But between 2016 and 2021, prosecutors say Hui "violated state laws by employing methods such as sustained, large-scale financial fraud to inflate assets and conceal liabilities," the Shenzhen intermediate people's court ruled Thursday.

The $300 Billion Collapse

Evergrande's troubles began in 2020 when the Chinese government introduced regulations limiting how much debt property companies could hold.

The company, which had defaulted on most of its $300 billion in liabilities, became the symbol of China's real estate crisis. Construction stalled on hundreds of developments as companies scrambled for cash during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A study published this year estimated the regulatory crackdown led to about $347 billion in sunk costs across the Chinese economy, The Guardian reports.

The court said Hui's actions had "severely disrupted the order of the socialist market economy" and "caused exceptionally heavy economic losses."

More Than 50 Others Sentenced

Hui wasn't the only one to face consequences. More than 50 individuals linked to Evergrande were also sentenced on Thursday, with prison terms ranging from 20 months to 18 years.

The company itself was hit with massive fines: Evergrande Group was fined 8.8 billion yuan (£950 million), while its property arm was fined 7 billion yuan, according to Chinese state media.

Evergrande delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange last year as the crisis deepened.

A Loyal Supporter — Until The End

In a twist that now seems darkly ironic, Hui had publicly thanked the Chinese Communist Party in 2018, saying it had provided "everything that Evergrande and I have."

That gratitude didn't save him from the harshest possible sentence under Chinese law.

The real estate crisis that Evergrande came to symbolize continues to weigh heavily on China's economy, with the property sector still struggling to recover from the regulatory crackdown that began four years ago.

Sources:

• The Guardian: Founder of China's Evergrande jailed for life after pleading guilty to fraud