James Henry Ting Wei (丁謂, born 1951) is a

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

-born Chinese-

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former business executive who was once one of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

's most successful businessmen before being charged with illegal business practices.

Early years

Ting was born in Shanghai in 1951 and moved to

in 1958, where he studied at Rosaryhill School from 1963. Ting moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with his wife to study engineering at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. After graduation, Ting founded International Semi Tech Microsystems, a computer assembler, in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1981.

Building the empire

With Semi-Tech Ting expanded beyond computer components to acquire various high-profile businesses like

Singer Corporation Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Singer, Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward Cabot Clark, Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing mac ...

Sansui Electric was a Japanese manufacturer of audio and video equipment. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, it was part of the Bermuda conglomerate (from 2011). The company was founded in Tokyo in 1947 by Kosaku Kikuchi, who had worked for a radio parts dist ...

, G.M. Pfaff and

Akai Akai (, ) is a Japanese brand & former electronics manufacturer, established as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo in 1929. It was best known outside Japan for its tape recorders during the 1960s and 1970s. The company became bankrupt in 2000 ...

. At its peak in 1997, Ting's business empire employed 100,000 people in 120 countries with sales of $5 billion. Before the empire collapsed in 1999, Ting sold them to

Grande Holdings Grande Holdings Ltd () () is a Chinese manufacturer of consumer and professional audio and HiFi components based in Kowloon, Hong Kong. In the past, Grande Holdings has purchased several Japanese HiFi manufacturers, including Akai and Nakamichi. ...

, which he founded in 1987.

Collapse and downfall

These businesses Ting was involved in and improper business practices brought down his empire, tarnished the businesses he led or acquired. Singer made a loss of $238 million in 1997, while Semi-Tech and Akai both went bankrupt in 2000. Ting fled Canada to avoid investigation by Canadian and US authorities and eventually Hong Kong to Macau. He was forced to return to Hong Kong, but left for China to avoid being investigated by Hong Kong regulators from 2000 to 2003. He was arrested after flying back from Macau by helicopter in March 2003 and was then investigated by

Hong Kong Police The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one c ...

's Commercial Crimes Bureau. On 29 June 2005 he was convicted to two counts of false accounting relating to a fake HK$300 million stake in MicroMain Systems, and was sentenced to six years in prison. After serving only one year, Ting's conviction was overturned by Hong Kong's Court of Appeals: he escaped retrial in 2006. He escaped another retrial in November 2007. Ting's whereabouts after his legal problems are unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ting, James Businesspeople from Shanghai Businesspeople from Toronto Hong Kong business executives University of Toronto alumni 1951 births Accounting scandals Living people 20th-century Canadian businesspeople 21st-century Canadian businesspeople Canadian Catholics