SHENZHEN (Azat TV) – Hui Ka Yan, the founder of the former property giant China Evergrande Group, has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, bribery, and embezzlement during a two-day trial at the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. The admission marks a stark transition from his status as one of Asia’s wealthiest individuals to a central defendant in the collapse of the world’s most indebted property developer.
The End of a Property Empire
Hui, 67, stood before the court on Monday and Tuesday to face a series of indictments alongside the Evergrande Real Estate Group. The charges, which include fraudulent fundraising, the illegal issuance of securities, and the misuse of public deposits, represent the culmination of a years-long investigation into the company’s massive debt-driven expansion. The court confirmed that the verdict will be delivered at a future date, though the proceedings have already served to underscore the systemic instability that the developer’s collapse triggered across China’s economy.
Stakes of the Evergrande Collapse
The scale of the scandal is historic. At the peak of its influence, Evergrande held a market valuation exceeding $50 billion and maintained roughly 1,300 projects across 280 cities. The firm’s business model relied heavily on pre-sale funding from homebuyers to finance land acquisition for new developments. When the Chinese government introduced the “three red lines” policy in 2020 to curb excessive leverage, the company’s liquidity evaporated, eventually leading to a $300 billion debt load. This collapse effectively paralyzed the broader property sector, which accounts for a significant portion of China’s economic output, and prompted a multi-year decline in new home prices.
From Corporate Titan to Criminal Defendant
Hui’s trajectory has been characterized by a dramatic fall from power. Once ranked as Asia’s richest person with a net worth of over $42 billion, his empire expanded into diverse sectors including professional football, electric vehicles, and bottled water. However, the subsequent investigation revealed that the firm had overstated its revenue by $78 billion. Following the company’s liquidation in early 2024 and its subsequent delisting from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2025, the current criminal trial serves as the final phase in the state’s effort to account for the losses sustained by domestic banks and individual investors.
The guilty plea signifies a calculated shift in the state’s handling of the property crisis, signaling that the focus has moved from corporate restructuring to individual accountability for the systemic risks that nearly destabilized the national housing market.