The billionaire founder of China ​Evergrande Group, the world's most-indebted property developer, ‌was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday by a Chinese court, which ordered all his ​personal property confiscated.

Hui Ka Yan pleaded guilty ​in April to eight charges, including misuse ⁠of funds, fundraising fraud and illegally taking ​public deposits.

Evergrande, once China's premier developer, has ​defaulted since 2021 on most of its $300 billion in liabilities, its troubles emblematic of a crisis in the ​property sector that has long dragged on ​the world's second-biggest economy.

Hui's sentence ends his rags-to-riches story ‌but ⁠is unlikely to bring much solace to Evergrande's domestic and foreign creditors.

In addition to Hui's sentence, the court in the southern city ​of Shenzhen ​said in ⁠a statement it had fined Evergrande 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) and ​its main subsidiary Hengda Real Estate ​7 ⁠billion yuan, and sentenced five other senior executives to fines and prison terms ranging from six ⁠to ​18 years.

Source: Reuters