A Chinese court has sentenced Hui Ka Yan, founder of the collapsed property giant China Evergrande Group, to life in prison. The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court convicted Hui of multiple crimes, including embezzlement, bribery, and fraudulent securities issuance, and ordered the confiscation of his assets. The court fined Evergrande Rmb8.8bn ($1.3bn) and its mainland arm Rmb7bn, citing years of financial statement fabrication to inflate assets and conceal liabilities between 2016 and 2021. Hui, once China's richest person in 2017, saw his empire crumble amid a sector-wide debt crisis. Evergrande, once the world's most indebted developer with over $300bn in liabilities, defaulted in late 2021, symbolizing broader turmoil in China's property sector. The Hong Kong-listed entity was delisted last year and is now in liquidation. In related developments, auditors PwC faced multimillion-dollar fines in both Hong Kong and mainland China for their role in the collapse. Liquidators Alvarez & Marsal are pursuing PwC for over $8bn in audit negligence claims.

The sentencing marks a dramatic fall for a developer whose aggressive expansion and debt-driven model fueled China's real estate boom but ultimately triggered widespread defaults. The property sector remains under pressure, with falling home prices and declining investment. Hui's case underscores the tightening regulatory environment and accountability measures targeting corporate misconduct in China.

Legal proceedings continue in Hong Kong, where a court is reviewing a settlement involving PwC and local financial regulators, challenged by creditors including Alvarez & Marsal. The fallout from Evergrande's collapse continues to reverberate across global markets, highlighting risks in China's highly leveraged property sector and the consequences of corporate governance failures at the highest levels.