Hui Ka Yan built a $45 billion fortune through Evergrande’s property empire. Its collapse ruined millions—and pushed China to flood the world with goods

By Adrian Blomfield

The figure in the dock, his jet-black hair turned white since his last appearance three years ago, will almost certainly never be seen in public again. And a good thing too, many in China will tell you.

Hui Ka Yan was once Asia’s richest man, yet for many of his countrymen, he was little more than a caricature of extravagance, with his gold-buckled belt, 200-foot mega-yacht and ludicrously expensive London house.

So when Hui was jailed for life, there was widespread glee that a man who once insisted on keeping a minion on hand to mop his brow with a hot towel had received his comeuppance. READ ON