Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin sentenced to life in prison

Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin has been sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of several charges including fundraising fraud.

Mainland authorities have confiscated all his personal assets.

This as China Evergrande Group and Hengda Real Estate have been fined a collective 15.8 billion yuan.

67-year-old Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin received his sentence earlier today at a Shenzhen court.

The case found Xu, as the key authority figure in China Evergrande Group and Hengda Real Estate, having comitted a number of offences such as illegally taking public deposits, illegally extending loans and large-scale fraud between 2016 and 2021.

Xu and Evergrande also engaged in bribery to acquire control over financial institutions, as well as illegally securing credit and insurance funds.

The court said Xu, Evergrande Group and Hengda Real Estate's actions severely damaged the nation's economic order, and violated both public and private property rights.

Owing to the extent of damage and number of victims involved in the case, mainland judicial authorities emphasised a harsher sentence will be passed according to the law.

The court sentenced Xu to life in prison, with all personal assets to be confiscated by the government.

Evergrande Group was fined 8.82 billion yuan, while Hengda Real Estate was fined 7 billion yuan.

Born in Henan Province, Xu worked at a steel factory after graduating from university before founding Evergrande in 1996.

Evergrande was first listed in Hong Kong in 2009, with the company's market value surpassing 400 billion yuan in 2017.

At the peak of his career, Xu had a net worth of 290 billion yuan, becoming one of the richest men in the country.

In 2020, Evergrande became the nation's top real estate company, but subsequently declined in the following years as a result of central authorities' policies on tightening real estate investment.

Xu was later arrested in 2023 on suspicion of debt-related crimes.