Evergrande founder and former China richest man Xu Jiayin was sentenced in the first instance this week to life imprisonment, deprived of political rights for life, and had all of his personal assets confiscated. After the ruling, Chinese social media and online forums revived a large batch of claims about the lifestyle he allegedly maintained before his downfall, from private jets and luxury cars to cigars, exclusive venues, and tightly controlled travel arrangements.
Online file describes hotel and access requirements
One document circulating online, titled an Evergrande leadership guest history record summary, lists a series of requirements said to apply when Xu stayed at hotels. The report states that the file was not verified by Evergrande or by any independent third party and should be treated only as reference material.
According to the document, elevator access would be controlled wherever Xu was staying, and people from other floors were not allowed to share the same elevator. Apart from secretaries, bodyguards, and a personal butler, other people, especially men, were not allowed to get close. It also says he only ate imported fruit, including Japanese greenhouse melons, Shine Muscat grapes, and watermelons referred to as Qingwang. When singing, he was said to prefer Royal Salute mixed with soda water. The report also says Evergrande’s internal newspaper for years only carried images of Xu meeting provincial party secretaries.
Private aircraft, Rolls-Royce travel and premium bottled water
Other resurfaced claims say Xu at one point had 3 large private aircraft and would only ride in a long-wheelbase Rolls-Royce Phantom. One Airbus A319 was said to have been purchased for about $90 million, while another aircraft, an Airbus A330-243, was priced as high as $220 million.
The same set of claims says local branches had to schedule vehicles across cities if cars on hand did not meet requirements, and that they had to set up a dedicated reception team two months in advance. A specified French bottled water brand allegedly cost more than 2,000 yuan per bottle, had to be kept at a fixed temperature, and was flown in daily by designated staff. Japanese Shizuoka melons he favored were said to cost more than 1,000 yuan each, with any fruit showing even minor blemishes discarded outright.
On cigars, the report says annual spending was claimed to exceed 7 million yuan. If a secretary forgot to bring them, a meeting could be halted on the spot. When staying at hotels, an entire floor was said to be booked out, with presidential suites treated as standard.
Claims also focus on a private club and a 200-member song and dance troupe
The report says the 42nd floor of Guangzhou Evergrande Center was widely described as Xu’s private clubhouse, complete with separate access control and a dedicated elevator, with ordinary employees barred from entry for life.
Visitors who were said to have toured the space described fully custom-made rosewood furniture, with the cost of a single chair reaching six figures in yuan. Another claim says Evergrande maintained a song and dance troupe that at its peak had 200 members, selected from pools described as one in a thousand. The troupe reportedly rarely performed commercially outside the company, with all expenses covered by the group and appearances mainly serving internal banquets.
Report links the allegations to Evergrande’s governance structure
The article argues that, whether fully accurate or not, the collection of details points to the same governance problem: a property giant once valued at more than $100 billion allegedly organized its resources around the preferences of one founder. Reception teams formed two months in advance, hotel floors booked in full, and imported melons screened one by one were presented not simply as examples of extravagance, but as cases of resource misallocation inside a corporate control system.
It also says an administrative apparatus that operated for years to satisfy one person’s needs reflected highly concentrated decision-making power and a lack of effective internal checks, conditions the report describes as part of the soil from which Evergrande’s systemic violations grew.
Shenzhen court imposed fines and sentenced dozens of related individuals
In its first-instance ruling, the Shenzhen court found Evergrande Group and Xu guilty of illegal absorption of public deposits, fundraising fraud, illegal lending, fraudulent issuance of securities, improper disclosure of material information, and unit bribery, among other offenses. Evergrande Group was fined 8.82 billion yuan, and Evergrande Real Estate was fined another 7 billion yuan.
On the same day, 56 related individuals received prison terms ranging from 18 years to 1 year and 10 months. Xu’s two sons were also sentenced.