One of the most high-profile figures at the center of China’s years-long property market crisis has reached a landmark legal milestone, as Hui Ka Yan, the founder of embattled real estate giant China Evergrande, has pleaded guilty to a sweeping array of criminal charges, a mainland Chinese court confirmed in an official statement this week.
The charges against Hui, who is also known as Xu Jiayin, include illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud, corporate bribery, illegal lending, improper misuse of corporate funds, and rule-breaking disclosure of material market information. Hui was first taken into custody by Chinese authorities in September 2023 while investigations into Evergrande’s collapse were ongoing. His trial was held over two days, Monday and Tuesday, at the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, which released details of the proceedings via a public post on its official WeChat account. During the hearing, the court noted that Hui formally expressed remorse for his actions. A final judgment on sentencing will be issued at a future, unspecified date.
In addition to the charges against Hui personally, China Evergrande Group itself faces multiple criminal allegations including illegal public deposit absorption, fundraising fraud, corporate bribery, and illegal lending. The firm’s core mainland China property subsidiary, Evergrande Real Estate Group, has additionally been accused of fraudulent securities issuance. Observers from multiple stakeholder groups were in attendance for the trial, including representatives of investors who participated in the firm’s past fundraising campaigns, as well as delegates from China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislative body.
The conviction of Hui marks the latest chapter in a years-long downfall that reshaped China’s $60 trillion property sector and sent ripples through global financial markets. Founded by Hui in the mid-1990s, Evergrande grew to become China’s second-largest property developer, amassing a sprawling business empire that extended far beyond residential construction into everything from electric vehicles to theme parks. By the time the firm hit its breaking point in 2021, it held total liabilities of more than $300 billion, making it the most heavily indebted real estate developer in the world.
Evergrande’s collapse was triggered by a 2020 regulatory move by Chinese authorities to crack down on excessive borrowing among private property developers, a policy designed to rein in skyrocketing debt levels and cool overheating housing prices. The crackdown left dozens of overleveraged developers, Evergrande included, unable to access new financing to cover their existing obligations. What followed was a wave of cross-sector defaults that tipped the entire Chinese property industry into a deep systemic crisis. The meltdown dragged on growth in the world’s second-largest economy and shook confidence in financial markets both within China and across the globe.
In the years after the default, Evergrande underwent a lengthy insolvency process. A Hong Kong court issued a formal liquidation order for the firm in 2024, and court records confirmed that more than 90% of Evergrande’s assets were located on the Chinese mainland. By 2025, Evergrande’s shares were officially delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, closing out the public trading chapter of the firm’s 30-year history.