China Sentences Former Evergrande Boss to Life in Prison

Xu Jiayin, founder and former chairman of China Evergrande Group, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday after being convicted of multiple financial crimes, including fundraising fraud, bribery and securities fraud.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in southern China's Guangdong Province also stripped Xu, 67, of his political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of all his personal property.

Evergrande Group was fined 8.82 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion), while Evergrande Real Estate Group, a subsidiary of the developer, was fined 7 billion yuan.

The court also ordered the continued recovery of illegal proceeds and repayment of any shortfall. Under Chinese law, compensation for losses takes priority over the enforcement of fines and confiscation of property.

The court found that between 2016 and 2021, Evergrande Group, Evergrande Real Estate and Xu engaged in large-scale and persistent financial fraud, including inflating assets and concealing liabilities.

The court said the defendants committed multiple offenses, including illegally absorbing public deposits, fundraising fraud, fraudulent issuance of securities and failing to disclose important information as required.

Xu, who was the actual controller of Evergrande Group, was also found to have used bribery to obtain control over financial institutions and illegally secured credit and insurance funds for Evergrande. He was additionally convicted of illegal use of funds and embezzlement for allegedly misappropriating company assets under the guise of dividend payments.

The court said the crimes seriously disrupted the order of China's market economy, infringed on public and private property rights and caused particularly severe economic and social harm.

The court also sentenced 56 other people involved in related Evergrande cases to prison terms ranging from 18 years to one year and 10 months. They were also fined or had property confiscated, with illegal proceeds subject to further recovery.