End of an Era: China's Real Estate Tycoon Hui Ka Yan Faces His Downfall
End of an Era: China's Real Estate Tycoon Hui Ka Yan Faces His Downfall (Photo: Evergrande Group Website)

Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan has been sentenced to life in prison, marking a dramatic turn in the downfall of the Chinese property empire that once accumulated more than $300 billion in liabilities.

A court in Shenzhen convicted Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, and Evergrande of large-scale financial fraud, including inflating assets and concealing liabilities. The court said Hui also abused his position to orchestrate fraud and misappropriate company assets.

The penalties are enormous: Evergrande Group was fined $1.31 billion, while Evergrande Real Estate Group was fined another $1.04 billion - roughly $2.3 billion combined.

Several other senior executives received prison sentences of up to 18 years on charges including fraud and illegally taking public deposits.