China jails Evergrande founder for life
China on Thursday sentenced the founder of embattled property giant Evergrande to life in prison and fined the company and an affiliate more than $2 billion after a high-profile default five years ago.
Evergrande Group was the face of Chinese real estate, surfing a decadeslong property boom as it peddled homeownership dreams, but its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing and speculation.
The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors.
On Thursday, a court in south China fined the firm and its real estate arm a total of 15.82 billion yuan ($2.4 billion).
It sentenced founder Xu Jiayin, known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, to life for a list of crimes, including “large-scale financial fraud.” Xu pleaded guilty in April to charges that also included embezzlement and bribery, according to the court at the time.
Five other senior executives of Evergrande Group were also sentenced Thursday to prison terms ranging from six to 18 years for crimes, including fraud, the Shenzhen court said.
The verdict caps 67-year-old Xu’s spectacular fall from grace. He was once one of China’s richest billionaires and a member of the Communist Party’s top political advisory body.
