On August 25, 2025, Evergrande, a Chinese property developer, was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Hui Ka Yan, founder of the Evergrande real estate group, has been sentenced to life in prison. The court in Shenzhen announced fines totaling $2.3 billion against the companies.

The ruling is a significant development in Evergrande’s troubled history. The company collapsed under more than $300 billion in liabilities following a 2020 government crackdown on real estate borrowing. This led to a downturn that continues to affect China’s economy.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court found Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, guilty of extensive financial fraud. Evergrande inflated its assets while concealing liabilities. Hui’s misconduct involved misappropriating assets and orchestrating fraudulent activities.

Several Evergrande senior executives received prison sentences of up to 18 years for illegal deposits and fraud. The group faced a fine of 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion), and Evergrande Real Estate Group was fined 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion).

Hui admitted guilt in April, facing charges of illegal public deposit absorption, fraud, and bribery following his arrest. Evergrande, established in 1996, defaulted on its debts in 2021. Before liquidation, it was the world’s most indebted real estate entity.

Authorities in Hong Kong and mainland China exposed manipulations in Evergrande’s financial data. This included falsely booking property sale revenues before apartment completion and delivery. These actions overstated revenues by about $80 billion from 2019 to 2020.