China Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan pleads guilty to a set of charges including fraud and bribery

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HONG KONG (AP) — The founder of the debt-ridden real estate developer China Evergrande pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud and corporate bribery, according to a mainland Chinese court statement Tuesday.

Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, was detained in China in September 2023 on suspicion of committing crimes. Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement on WeChat that Hui expressed remorse in court during a trial between Monday and Tuesday. The court will deliver a judgment at a later date.

Hui also was accused of illegal lending, illegal use of funds and disclosure of material information in violation of rules, among other charges, the court said.

Those attending court included representatives of those involved in past fundraising and members of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislative body.

Evergrande was the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer with more than $300 billion in liabilities when a Hong Kong court handed down a liquidation order in 2024.

Founded in the mid-1990s by Hui, the company had over 90% of its assets on the Chinese mainland, according to the 2024 ruling. Shares in China Evergrande were removed from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2025.

Evergrande is among scores of developers that defaulted on debts after Chinese regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing in the property industry in 2020. Unable to obtain financing, the companies' vast obligations to creditors and customers became unsustainable.

The crackdown also tipped the property industry into crisis, dragging down the world’s second-largest economy and rattling financial systems in and outside China.

During the trial, China Evergrande Group faced a set of allegations such as absorbing public deposits illegally, fundraising fraud, corporate bribery and illegal lending. Evergrande Real Estate Group, its mainland property arm, was alleged to have committed fraudulent securities issuance.