Wong Kwong Yu and family

Wong Kwong Yu is one of the better-known business family names in China, thanks to his ownership stake in GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. Launched in 1987, Gome has grown into the largest electronics retailer in China. Wong Kwong Yu grew up in Southern China and left school, his life of poverty and his home at the age of 16. One year later, he managed to open up his first electronics retail store in Beijing. From there, his success only skyrocketed. By the relatively young age of 36, he was not just a billionaire, but also the richest man in China. He married Du Juan, and the couple had two children together. However, things took a downward turn for the Wong Kwong Yu family in the latter part of the last decade. In November 2008, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange indefinitely halted trading in GOME shares after an investigation into the company and its founder was announced. Wong Kwong Yu was subsequently charged with stock market manipulation, for which he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in 2010. Du Juan was also caught up in the legal entanglements and was fined 200 million yuan and sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment for insider trading. Despite this, the couple has an eye to their future and purchased a $41.5 million New York City Upper-East Side residence in March 2017.