China’s Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin pleads guilty to fraud and bribery in Shenzhen court

Xu Jiayin, founder and former chairman of Evergrande Group, has pleaded guilty to multiple financial crimes during a high-profile trial linked to the collapse of the debt-laden property giant.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court said Xu, also known as Hui Ka Yan, “pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in court” during a public hearing held from April 13 to 14. The court added that the verdict will be announced at a later date .

Prosecutors accused Xu of embezzlement and corporate bribery , along with a series of financial offences including illegal absorption of public deposits , fraudulent fundraising , illegal loan issuance , and fraudulent issuance of securities . Authorities also alleged unlawful disclosure of material information involving the company’s finances.

Prosecutors said the case also involves Evergrande and its mainland subsidiary, Evergrande Real Estate Group, which face several related charges.

Evergrande’s collapse triggered one of the most severe crises in China’s real estate sector. The company accumulated more than USD 300 billion in liabilities , making it the world’s most indebted property developer before defaulting in 2021. The fallout left many investors and homebuyers facing heavy losses and exposed risks in China’s highly leveraged property market.

In September 2023, Xu was detained by Chinese authorities as investigations into the company’s finances intensified.

Regulators later said Evergrande had inflated its revenue figures in the years before its collapse . In March 2024, the China Securities Regulatory Commission fined the company 4.2 billion yuan and banned Xu for life from China’s capital markets .

The crisis deepened further when the Hong Kong High Court ordered Evergrande’s liquidation in January 2024 , after efforts to restructure its massive debts failed.

Xu, who founded the developer in Guangzhou in the 1990s and once became one of China’s richest businessmen, saw his business empire unravel as China tightened borrowing rules for property developers, accelerating Evergrande’s dramatic downfall.