The first-instance verdicts in the cases of Evergrande Group, Evergrande Real Estate, Xu Jiayin, and others.

On the morning of August 20, 2026, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong Province publicly announced the first-instance verdicts against the defendant companies Evergrande Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Evergrande Group), Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Evergrande Real Estate), and defendant Xu Jiayin. Evergrande Group was sentenced to pay a fine of 8.82 billion yuan for multiple crimes, Evergrande Real Estate was fined 7 billion yuan, and Xu Jiayin was sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple crimes, deprived of political rights for life, and ordered to forfeit all personal property; unlawful gains will continue to be recovered, and any shortfalls will be subject to restitution. The court found through trial that defendant Xu Jiayin was the actual controller of Evergrande Group, fully responsible for the group's operational activities, and managed and controlled Evergrande Real Estate, Evergrande Wealth, Evergrande Nanchang, and other enterprises, investing in real estate, property, finance, and other fields. Between 2016 and 2021, Evergrande Group, Evergrande Real Estate, and Xu Jiayin violated national laws by committing crimes such as illegal public deposit absorption, fundraising fraud, fraudulent issuance of securities, and illegally disclosing important information through persistent and large-scale financial falsification to inflate assets and conceal liabilities. Evergrande Group and Xu Jiayin obtained control over financial institutions through bribery and illegally siphoned off credit and insurance funds for the use of Evergrande Group, committing crimes including unit bribery, illegal loan issuance, and illegal use of funds. Xu Jiayin also took advantage of his position as chairman of Evergrande Real Estate to organize financial falsification and misappropriate company property under the guise of dividends. The court held that the actions of Evergrande Group and Xu Jiayin constituted crimes of illegal public deposit absorption, fundraising fraud, illegal loan issuance, fraudulent issuance of securities, illegal disclosure of important information, and unit bribery; Xu Jiayin's actions also constituted crimes of illegal use of funds and embezzlement; the actions of Evergrande Real Estate constituted fraudulent issuance of securities. Evergrande Group and Xu Jiayin should be punished for multiple crimes in accordance with the law. The criminal activities of Evergrande Group, Evergrande Real Estate, and Xu Jiayin severely disrupted the order of the socialist market economy, infringed upon public and private property rights, compromised the integrity of the conduct of state officials, involved particularly huge amounts of crime, had particularly severe circumstances, caused particularly significant economic losses, and posed a distinct social hazard, thus warranting severe punishment. The court made the above judgment based on the criminal facts, nature, circumstances, and the degree of harm to society of the defendant unit and defendant. In accordance with legal and judicial interpretations, restitution of losses takes precedence over the execution of fines and confiscation of property penalties. On the same day, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court and the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen also publicly pronounced verdicts on the relevant personnel of Evergrande Group for crimes such as illegal public deposit absorption, fundraising fraud, and illegal use of funds, sentencing 56 individuals including Zhen Litao, Ke Peng, Xu Tenghe, Xu Zhijian, Du Liang, and Liang Dong to prison terms ranging from eighteen years to one year and ten months, along with fines or property confiscation; unlawful gains will continue to be recovered, and any shortfalls will be subject to restitution. Some representatives from the National People's Congress, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, relatives of the defendants, and representatives of fundraising participants attended the hearing. (End) This article is sourced from Xinhua News Agency, edited by GMTEight: Li Fo.