Hui Ka Yan, the founder of Evergrande, once the world’s biggest property firm by sales, was sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court for “multiple combined crimes”. In April Mr Hui pleaded guilty to eight charges, including fraud and misuse of funds. Evergrande inflated the value of its assets and concealed its liabilities before defaulting on $300bn of debt in 2021. The firm and a subsidiary were fined $2.4bn.