Evergrande’s Founder Sentenced to Life in Prison in China Court After Firm’s Default of $300 Billion in Liabilities
The AP reported this week on the latest in the Evergrande bankruptcy:
Chinese authorities are moving to finish cleaning up the mess left by the collapse of the Evergrande real estate empire, years after its default with some $300 billion in liabilities.
A court in southern China’s Guangzhou said Friday it had accepted a bankruptcy liquidation case against Evergrande’s mainland Chinese property development unit, which according to industry data accounted for much of the group’s overall debt.
That came a day after a court in the city of Shenzhen sentenced China Evergrande’s 67-year-old founder Hui Kan Yan to life in prison for financial crimes. On the same day, dozens of others tied to the group, including Hui’s sons, also were sentenced to prison terms of up to 18 years.
We reported in 2023 on Evergrande’s bankruptcy:
The China economy is in trouble, like the rest of the world’s economies. The Evergrande failure has been in the works for some time now. Once one of the most prestigious firms in China, it’s now facing bankruptcy.
The founder of Evergrande is lucky to still be alive.
The collapse of the Chinese economy is here.
China’s Evergrande Files for Bankruptcy – World Economy in Dangerous Shape
In 2023, the world began to see China’s economy falter. We reported on a report at the Business Insider.
It’s been clear for years that the Chinese real-estate market has been in trouble. China has a population of 1.4 billion, but it has built housing for a population of 3 billion, according to expert estimates. Many of the mega-developments became empty monuments to Beijing’s insatiable desire for growth. In Shenyang, farmers have taken over a development of empty mansions for cattle grazing.
At that time, real estate giant Evergrand began reporting problems. Now its founder is in prison for life.
China’s Evergrande Files for Bankruptcy – World Economy in Dangerous Shape
Now the value of real estate in China is collapsing to its lowest prices in at least the last 20 years.
BREAKING 🚨: China
Chinese Real Estate Market has fallen to its lowest prices in AT LEAST the last 20 years 📉 🏡 pic.twitter.com/Kiqt6EHfKg
— Barchart (@Barchart) August 3, 2026
In response, the government instituted a law saying that it will not allow some people to leave the country, maybe.
🚨 China Just Made “Maybe” a Crime. Now Everyone Is a Flight Risk.
Beijing has quietly redrawn the line between citizen and suspect, and it did it with a single word.
Under China’s new Regulations on Exit and Entry Administration, effective September 15 but already being trialed at some ports, one term appears again and again: “may.” Not “did.” Not “will.” May. If an official decides you “may endanger national security, interests, industrial security, or technical security,” you can be barred from leaving the country. Nowhere does the text define what “may endanger” actually means.
That vagueness is the point. The power to stop you at the border has been pushed all the way down the chain, provincial governments, the Commerce Ministry, even county-level offices can now decide who flies and who stays. As geopolitics scholar Chen Wen-chia puts it: you’re no longer flagged for what you did, but for what someone imagines you might do.
This is the machinery of a paranoid state, jumping at its own shadow. China has flipped its legal logic from punishing crimes after the fact to preventing exit before anything happens. State firms are reportedly already tightening travel approvals for staff. Those labeled a “threat” abroad can be blocked from leaving for six months to three years after they return.
Why now? Because the regime is scared. With the economy sagging and public anger simmering, Beijing fears its own people voting with their feet, and fears even more what they say when they come back. Engineers in semiconductors, AI, and finance should read the fine print: you may be next on the watchlist.
The message to 1.4 billion people is chillingly simple: the door is closing, and no one will tell you why. (Aric’s note: Regarding China’s current population, some analyses and experts believe it is far smaller than the official figures claim, though the actual data remains unclear.)
If you’re planning to leave China, understand the rules before they understand you.
ACI — Aric Chen | Insights
Editor’s note: The video is a related news segment from the World News I anchor.
🚨 China Just Made “Maybe” a Crime. Now Everyone Is a Flight Risk.
Beijing has quietly redrawn the line between citizen and suspect, and it did it with a single word.
Under China’s new Regulations on Exit and Entry Administration, effective September 15 but already being… https://t.co/xCODW58oxB pic.twitter.com/CjzHUwT6mj
— Aric Chen (@aricchen) August 4, 2026
New Organ donors?
He’s pretty old but it’s China. So. Yes.
THEY got his sons for 18 years! LOL!
.
All THEM Banksters are playin wth fire supportin da Democrat Socialist. Once THEY take over u KNOW da ole Bankster and sellin em da rope story. LOL!
Evergrande was obviously a CCP-instigated scam. The CEO is just the fall guy.
That’s the logic of the Evergrande scandal: allow private companies to operate with significant political backing, then let the state distance itself from the consequences when things collapse. It’s similar to how governments can use NGOs to carry out work indirectly, while retaining plausible deniability when things go wrong…
You can bet that none of the CCP officials who took bribes from Evergrande will never get in trouble.
CCP owns every business operating in China. It's their law.
300 Billion ?
Just one of the fraud shell enterprises.
I understand Chinese "provinces 36" also carry undisclosed liabilities.
Just for the Record, Enron failure came from hiding undisclosed contingent liabilities.
The officers had private ventures and they used corporate signature guarantees hidden from Anderson accounting. not disclosed in footnotes to financials'.
And to think the Dems want to bring communism here!
Already here.
As he should be, and so should CEO's here who defraud millions of people!
Interesting. Any candidates stateside for similar outcome? Interesting. The commie country punishes its corruption. Yet, here in America, we take them out of government and allow them to profit in the private sector. Seems to me like its another one of those things our officials could do to defeat communism. Do you think wed have all these DSA clowns winning elections, if our officials actually held a standard?
Meanwhile in America pharmaceutical companies can knowingly kill people and the most they will get is a fraud charge and fine of a fraction of what they made off the product killing people
Look at Walz and NewScum.
Both unaudited centers of fraud.
Back in the day, I watched banks involved with small SBA loans require a CPA audited financial statement.
nothing like a good old scapegoat. the chinese people are still beat on those unfinished apartments and they still have the ccp. time will show that all of china is a house of cards.
New York will be New China.
Mark-to-market (MTM), also known as fair value accounting
The Chiner scammers
In accounting the valuations of the empty hundreds of appartment buildings should be based on rental revenue.
Now the ugly part, How many chinese equities are listed and traded in our stock markets and they don't have clean audited financials?
This is what happens when to create fake money to finance fake growth, to lie to the slaves of the country that things are great. Problem is eventually that catches up with you and you have a giant collapse that can’t be hidden. Pitchforks would do lots of good culling the parasites of government.
In this country he'd be welcomed into Government
Guy is lucky that he is not going to get a bullet in the back of the neck
In the Chinese culture, there is a strong drive to "save face"
They propped insolvent Evergrande to save from embarassment of FAILURE.
Hiding Wuhan lab leaks etc to Save face.
They hid bloody Tiannamen Square brutality to save face.
They shut down smoke stack factories before olympic games to save face.
"The founder of Evergrande is lucky to still be alive."
He could always have "an accident" or die of "natural cause".
Ok, maybe "National Cause".
This COMMUNIST CRUD knew too many in the CCP that HE HAD PAID OFF and now they are making sure he keeps his mouth shut. He may not be in pri son long as there might be an 'accident'.
Ever grande only did what the CCP encouraged.
Guess “Too Big to Fail” doesn’t work as well in China.
Whereas in the good old USA, they get a golden parachute and the investors get nothing.
Like Obama Automotive bankruptcies where the UAW got funds and the pensions which held preferred instruments got scroood.
Wonder how many Chinese citizens plan to flee to Taiwan?
Talk about irony!!
A 3 hundred billion loss. Hell, California can do that in 5 years, easy.
Corporate mismanagement and thievery in the U.S. >>>>>> rewarded with bailouts.
Yet China military continues to grow.
So they say…
Hey China, you got room in your prisons and concentration camps for a shitload of Democrats and RINOs?
I would say he was a flight risk. I would be for sure. Maybe Japan would take him.
Wow they take financial crimes seriously. Life sentence. Maybe we should do that here in the US.
We were involved with a coventure in a Chinese factory. As good citizens we carefully identified an employee that was stealing. We to be good "citizens" fired him and reported to authorities.
Some time went by and the good authorities to be good citizens reported that they had killed the thief.
Too bad the Banksters that caused the near collapse of the US economy in ‘08-9 didn’t face a similar fate. Instead they gave themselves bonuses.
Abucus bank (Small Enough to Jail) was the only banking institution to be indicted
Barney Frank outta be his roommate
Too bad the old fruit is no longer with us.
Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers and other Wall Street Bank Executives served ZERO time in prison for almost taking down the entire global banking system. In fact, their punishment was a bailout.
China sentences the Founder of Evergrande to life in prison for almost collapsing the Chinese Real Estate market, yet no Chinese official was sentenced for almost taking down the entire global economy for "leaking" Covid.
Yes, places like china and Japan give a lot of 'cowbell' for CEO"S, COO"S , CFO's and Managers to these crimes.
We need "More Cowbell" in the States.
Paulsen coerced Bank Of America to "buy" Countrywide Mortgage. Bad mobile home loan portolio, and then they fined BAC for the mess.
(I shared an office building in the 80's with FDIC during their bank closing spree. I have done CPA audits, Used CPA's to audit my companies and had banks as business consulting clients)
One of the MOST solvent banks, Abacus was the ONLY banking institution to to face indictment. They weren’t ‘too big to fail’ but small enough to jail
Paulsen wrote an interesting book. AIG was inventing exotic instruments.
The mortgage bundles were not examined by risk managers.
Moodys was rubber stamping them!
Lehman Brothers was NOT bailed out.
That's why, as it happens, they're no longer in business…
Regarding Covid release, I believe the chicomms had the help and blessing of democrats & the deepstate. Both willing to set the world on fire in order to get rid of Trump, so they can rule over the ashes.
If you do an autopsy on a bank failure, it is aways a people problem.
There are hundreds of smaller Evergrande cases in China. Non performing assets.
Chinks dont mess around lol
At least China knows how to deal with the crooks, fraudsters and dissenters. If we dealt with people like in the Biden crime family this way, the whole bunch of them would be doing 20+ years in prison.
IIt seems Pretty dumb to imprison the only people who could save the market and know all the dimensions of the problems
If they threw me in prison I would give horrible advice if I was asked to help
the Bad news is if their market collapses our market might do the same with all of the empty offices buildings everywhere across the USA
Funny facts. The oil boom followed by a crash very early 80's in Houston.
New huge hotels were empty on weekends and closed Sat Sunday.
Office space empty. We could rent space for 60 months and get 18 months free on the front end.
The Texans still made money by selling the depreciated assets to the japanese who were looking for a bargain. They could buy a big fancy building for 25% of the same in Tokyo.
Target shells out $110 million to cut ties with downtown Minneapolis office tower
Understand? $110 million to NOT rent space.
They could not keep the space they didn't need and sublease it.
Many of the retail store bankruptcies are to break leases where they close stores.
Over saturated expansion.
In the early 80's, Plano Texas had brand new shopping centers on every major street corner and there were many that only had one or zero stores in them. Many anchor stores closed in existing shopping centers. They looked like ghost towns in part of a growing city.
Forget China, the U.S. needs to clean up all the fraud being committed by leftist states. Declare the debt a national security issue because it is just that. "As of August 22, 2026, the U.S. national debt is approximately $40 trillion (increasing by $2T per year). This figure represents the total amount owed by the federal government to holders of treasury securities." The yearly interest on this debt is greater than $1T.
We borrowed trillions of dollars to finance fraudsters. We have judges defending fraudsters.
We borrow money so you can listen to National Pubic Radio.
I wouldn't borrow money to buy advertising on NPR.
AT LEAST half of that debt is FRAUD.
Feb 27, 2026 · WOW. Minnesota’s spending on Autism Care went from $1 million in 2017 to $343 million in 2024 under Tim Walz’s …
Good, then cut it off our balance sheet. Whoever wants it back should go after the original debtors. We shouldn't be paying for it!
YHWH's economy is the only one that works longterm. Eventually, The World Babylonian system will fall and be replaced by YHWH's instructions, our Loving Creator. Repent today.
And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
Who held the 300 billion as assets? so the domino effect they lost 300 billion
Who lent scores of billions to non revenue producing buildings.
With so called liquidation, these alligator properties still have expenses. Utilities, taxes?, maintenance, security.
I wish we could see this kind of accountability in the US.
Crasssshhhhh!
Where's the money?
He didn't do it alone. How many government regulators will also get life in prison for allowing the problem to get so big? CCP/PRC One-Party rule means no rivals to call out corruption/malfeasance.
I'm thinking this guy is the fall guy for failed Chinese Communist central planning. This is a great example of why you do not want to have too strong a central government, and generally let market forces prevail.
How many CCP government officials will go to jail for approving, and benefitting, all this over-leverage? My guess is none. The CCP/PRC has no oppositon Party to call out waste, fraud, and abuse and hold people accountable. If you, also, would like to live under one-Party rule, move to California to get a taste of it before moving to China. The Chinese people are ruled, exclusively, by the CCP, which is 7% of the population. The CCP is not open to membership; it is a club that you must be invited to join. China has its own internet that is not connected to the rest of the world so Chinese people have no way to compare their lives to anyone else in the world. This week China just announced all government computers will get rid of Windows OS and begin using a government built Linux OS. Control is the top priority for the CCP when they chose violence in 1989 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Trump made them too poor to invade Taiwan by cutting off discounted Venezuelan and Iranian oil so now, to save money, China is tapping into its vast strategic oil reserves. Trump's tariffs and enforcement, for the first time, of WTC violations on China is also slowing their strategic, expansionist plans. BTW, if China admits to $300 billion in liabilites, it is most likely multiples of that.
Any Asian women need a marriage?
Taking resumes.
That means there are huge financial problems in China…….there are other investment properties in trouble also. It means the Chinese "yuan currency" is massively overpriced on the international markets. Which means like Trump says, China is manipulating their currency. They have said some Chinese banks are in deep trouble. But China manipulates everything about their whole economy, that is how the ruling regime stays in power, it is at the expense of their own people and their rights and freedoms.
Interesting that Democrat Kathy Hochul and Chairman Xi have the same problem–fleeing millionaires. I'll bet that Bucktooth Barbie wishes she could stop companies and CEO's from leaving, like Xi can.
It was Chinese government policy for the real estate developers to overbuild. To see Xi punish his own puppets for his mistakes seems very corrupt and third worldish.
He is in jail because the Chinese think this will show the world, they have addressed the corruption and fraud that is ubiquitous in the country. Also, Xi hopes it will calm his constituency.