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China · Evergrande · Fraud · Real Estate
Hui Ka Yan, founder of China Evergrande, pleaded guilty to multiple charges including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud, and corporate bribery in a mainland Chinese court, following his detention in September 2023 and Evergrande's liquidation in 2024 with over $300 billion in liabilities.
Hui also faced accusations of illegal lending, illegal use of funds, and disclosure violations, with the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court stating a judgment will be delivered later. China Evergrande Group itself faced allegations of illegal public deposit absorption, fundraising fraud, corporate bribery, and illegal lending, while its mainland property arm, Evergrande Real Estate Group, was accused of fraudulent securities issuance.
The company, founded by Hui in the mid-1990s, held over 90% of its assets on the Chinese mainland and was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2025. Evergrande's collapse, triggered by Chinese regulators' 2020 crackdown on excessive property industry borrowing, contributed to a broader crisis in China's real estate sector, impacting the world's second-largest economy and global financial systems.
