The Ledger / Cho Tak Wong
Cho Tak Wong
◼ Origin
Born 1946 in Fuqing, Fujian, China. Self-educated craftsman who started a glass workshop in the 1980s and incorporated Fuyao Group in 1987 in Fuqing, building it from a small rural factory into the world's largest automotive glass manufacturer with plants on four continents, including a flagship U.S. factory in Moraine, Ohio, opened in 2016 and documented in the Netflix film American Factory.
◼ Self-Made Verdict — YES
Cho Tak Wong grew up in rural Fujian and began his career as a craftsman with no inherited business capital, starting a glass workshop in the 1980s. His wealth derives entirely from building Fuyao Group from scratch over four decades. Self-made.
◼ Documented marks
01
Founder and controlling shareholder of Fuyao Group Glass Industry Co. Ltd. (Shanghai: 600660), the world's largest automotive glass manufacturer supplying Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Ford, and GM across four continents
02
U.S. subsidiary Fuyao Glass America operates a 2.9 million square-foot plant in Moraine, Ohio employing approximately 2,300 workers and supplying glass to most North American auto assembly plants
03
OSHA cited Fuyao Glass America for 22 violations in July 2019 — 9 repeated and 13 serious — covering machine guarding, lockout/tagout, confined spaces, hearing protection, and fall protection failures, with a proposed $724,380 penalty
04
FBI, HSI, and IRS Criminal Investigations raided the Moraine plant and 27 related locations in July 2024 over an alleged $126 million illegal staffing scheme involving money laundering and harboring undocumented workers through shell LLCs; Fuyao said the targeted entities were third-party contractors
05
Has pledged the majority of his personal wealth to charitable causes including education and disaster relief in China and has described himself as a 'traditional Chinese businessman' skeptical of excessive profit-seeking
No inheritance, or primary accounts documented for this billionaire yet.
◼ List of charges
Total sentence
0–0 years
That is
0.0–0.0 life sentences
(using 78 years as one life)
At $1 million per day
Cho Tak Wong's fortune would last 12 years
0.2 lifetimes of luxury — before running out.
These are moral charges, not legal ones. The actual legal system has not — and will not — bring them.
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