Jail for life and confiscation of property are the maximum penalties for illegal fundraising, while bribery can also bring life terms.
In 2024, China’s securities regulator fined Hui, formerly one of China’s richest men, US$6.6 million and barred him from the securities market for life, after finding Evergrande’s flagship unit had inflated earnings and committed securities fraud.
A former steel technician, Hui, raised by his grandmother in a rural village in central Henan province, built his fortune on the back of low-priced homes.
After founding Evergrande in 1996, he turned it into China’s biggest property developer by contracted sales, aggressively taking on debt.
DABBLED IN ELECTRIC CARS AND SOCCER AMONG NEW VENTURES
He did not shy away from new ventures, dabbling in electric cars and soccer, both a passion of President Xi Jinping.
In 2017, Hui was Asia’s richest man with a net worth of US$45.3 billion, according to Forbes. By 2023, his net worth was estimated at US$3 billion.
In 2024, Evergrande received a liquidation order from a Hong Kong court, and was kicked off the Hong Kong stock exchange last year, bringing an end to a tumultuous boom-and-bust saga.
Outside mainland China, Evergrande’s liquidators have battled in court to freeze offshore assets of the founder and his ex-spouse in a struggle to claw back US$6 billion in dividends and remuneration paid to Hui and other former executives.
