Xu Jiayin and others received first-instance verdicts: Xu Jiayin was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Evergrande Group was fined 8.82 billion yuan.

According to CCTV News, this morning, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong Province held a public first-instance sentencing for cases involving Evergrande Group Co., Ltd., Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., and defendant Xu Jiayin.

The court's rulings are as follows: Evergrande Group Co., Ltd. was sentenced to a combined penalty of a fine of RMB 8.82 billion for multiple crimes; Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. was fined RMB 7 billion; defendant Xu Jiayin was sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple crimes, deprived of political rights for life, and had all personal property confiscated;

Illegal gains in this case will continue to be recovered in accordance with the law, and any shortfall will be ordered to be compensated by the responsible parties.

The court found that from 2016 to 2021, Evergrande Group, Evergrande Real Estate, and Xu Jiayin violated national laws and regulations by engaging in long-term, large-scale financial fraud to inflate assets and conceal liabilities, committing multiple illegal and criminal acts including illegally absorbing public deposits, fundraising fraud, fraudulent issuance of securities, and illegal disclosure of important information.

Additionally, Evergrande Group and Xu Jiayin obtained control of financial institutions through bribery, illegally diverted credit funds and insurance funds for Evergrande Group's use, constituting crimes of unit bribery, illegal lending, and illegal use of funds.

Furthermore, Xu Jiayin used his position as chairman of Evergrande Real Estate to organize and implement financial fraud and misappropriated company assets in the name of dividends.

The court held that the defendant unit Evergrande Group and defendant Xu Jiayin's actions violated multiple charges, constituting the crimes of illegally absorbing public deposits, fundraising fraud, illegal lending, fraudulent issuance of securities, illegal disclosure of important information, and unit bribery;

Xu Jiayin additionally committed the crimes of illegal use of funds and职务侵占; the defendant unit Evergrande Real Estate's actions constituted the crime of fraudulent issuance of securities, and Evergrande Group and Xu Jiayin should be punished for multiple crimes in accordance with the law.

The court made the above rulings based on the criminal facts, nature of conduct, circumstances of the crimes, and degree of social harm of each defendant and defendant unit. According to relevant laws and judicial interpretations, the priority of compensation for losses in this case is higher than that of fines and confiscation of property.

On the same day, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court and Shenzhen Nanshan District People's Court also publicly sentenced a series of related cases involving Evergrande Group, imposing sentences ranging from one year and ten months to eighteen years of imprisonment on 56 involved individuals, including Zhen Litao, Ke Peng, Xu Tenghe, Xu Zhijian, Du Liang, and Liang Dong, for crimes such as illegally absorbing public deposits, fundraising fraud, and illegal use of funds, along with corresponding fines or confiscation of property; illegal gains of each involved individual will continue to be recovered, and any shortfall will be ordered to be compensated in accordance with the law.