The founder of Evergrande Group, China’s most indebted property developer, has pleaded guilty to multiple charges, a Shenzhen court said. The court posted on its official WeChat account that Hui Ka Yan “pleaded guilty and expressed remorse” during trial proceedings held on Monday and Tuesday.
The court said charges against Hui and Evergrande include illegally absorbing public deposits, fundraising fraud, illegally issuing loans, illegally using funds, fraudulently issuing securities, violating disclosure rules, embezzlement and corporate bribery. Representatives of past fundraising participants and members of the National People’s Congress attended the hearings. The court has not yet set a date for the verdict.
Evergrande defaulted in 2021 on most of its roughly $300 billion in liabilities and on unpaid wealth‑management product obligations. Founded in the mid‑1990s, the company expanded rapidly during China’s urbanization; a 2024 ruling said over 90% of its assets were on the mainland. Government curbs on excessive borrowing introduced in 2020 sharply reduced Evergrande’s access to credit and are widely seen as a key factor in its 2021 default.
Hui was reportedly detained in 2023. China’s securities regulator fined him $6.6 million and imposed a lifetime ban from the securities market in 2024. That year a Hong Kong court ordered the company’s liquidation, and Evergrande’s shares were removed from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2025.
Evergrande’s collapse has become a symbol of broader stresses in China’s property sector, which have weighed on domestic growth and prompted concern in international financial markets.
Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher