Evergrande's Xu Jiayin "pleaded guilty in court" to illegal fundraising and illegal lending. The eight charges, the most severe of which could result in the death penalty, once triggered a liquidity panic in the cryptocurrency market.

Chinese real estate giant Evergrande Group founder Xu Jiayin held a first-instance court hearing at the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on April 13-14, 2026, and expressed remorse and guilt in court. The court will announce its verdict at a later date; among the eight major charges, the charge of fundraising fraud carries the heaviest penalty, potentially life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
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• Xu Jiayin faces 8 charges, with fundraising fraud potentially punishable by the death penalty
• Evergrande crisis once triggered panic in the crypto market
• Court hearing took two and a half years: from debt crisis to guilty plea in court

Two and a half years, from September 2023 when Xu Jiayin was subjected to compulsory measures, to April 14, 2026, when he pleaded guilty at the end of the court session at the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, this man who once controlled China’s largest real estate enterprise has marked the end of his business empire with a “confession and remorse.”

Xu Jiayin faces 8 charges, with fundraising fraud potentially punishable by the death penalty

In this first trial, Xu Jiayin was personally charged with as many as 8 offenses: illegal fundraising from the public, fundraising fraud, illegal lending, illegal use of funds, securities fraud, illegal disclosure of important information, embezzlement, and bribery of officials.

Evergrande Group was also charged with securities fraud, illegal disclosure of important information, illegal lending, and bribery of officials.

The most severe sentence among these is “fundraising fraud.” According to China’s Criminal Law Article 192, in cases of particularly serious circumstances, the penalty can be life imprisonment or the death penalty, along with confiscation of property. “Illegal absorption of public deposits” carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and “securities fraud” has recently been revised to carry a maximum sentence of 15 years.

In total, the eight charges could theoretically result in a very heavy combined sentence.

Compared to recent major financial fraud cases in China, Xu Jiayin’s case is of a historic scale. In 2020, Wu Xiaohui, former chairman of Anbang Insurance, was sentenced to 18 years for fundraising fraud and had assets confiscated worth about 10.5 billion RMB; Zhang Min of the P2P platform Ezubao was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The scale of funds involved in Xu Jiayin’s case far exceeds these examples. Many predict that the sentence will not be less than 20 years. While the possibility of the death penalty exists, mainstream opinion considers it relatively low, given that the case’s political classification is “corporate illegal activities” rather than “subversive threat.”

Some members of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference were invited to attend the hearing, highlighting the high political significance of this case. The court stated that the verdict date would be announced separately, and it is expected that there will be no long delay.

Evergrande crisis once triggered panic in the crypto market

For observers of the cryptocurrency market, the name “Evergrande” is not unfamiliar. It was one of the largest sources of systemic panic in global risk assets in 2021, and the crypto market was also affected.

The underlying logic of this decline was based on the expectation of “China’s systemic risk spillover.” Market concerns that Evergrande’s over $230 billion in debt could trigger a chain of defaults, dragging down China’s banking system and impacting global liquidity, with cryptocurrencies as high-risk assets being the first to react.

Although subsequent confirmation showed the actual impact was relatively controllable, this episode left a lesson: major financial incidents in China, even with no direct relation to blockchain, can still cause short-term but intense volatility in digital asset markets.

Two and a half years to open court: from debt crisis to court confession

Evergrande Group was founded in 1996 by Xu Jiayin in Guangzhou. At its peak, its assets exceeded $300 billion, with businesses spanning real estate, football clubs, electric vehicles, and cultural tourism real estate. In 2021, Evergrande’s debt crisis fully erupted, with over $30 billion in offshore dollar bonds defaulted, and its electric vehicle brand Hengchi Motors also faced a liquidity crunch, triggering China’s largest-ever private enterprise bankruptcy restructuring.

On September 28, 2023, Xu Jiayin was subjected to compulsory measures on charges of “suspected illegal crimes,” officially disappearing from public view. Nearly two and a half years later, the case slowly progressed through investigation, prosecution, and court acceptance, until this April when the first trial was initiated.