Robert Wan, also known as Wan Fui Yin (born 1934)[1] is a French Polynesian pearl trader. Due to his importance to French Polynesia's pearl industry, he is known as the "emperor of pearls".[2]
Wan was born in Papeete.[1] His father was a Hakka from Guangdong who emigrated to Tahiti.[2] In July 1973 he purchased the Tahiti Pearls company with his brothers.[3] Their first harvest was purchased by Mikimoto in 1977.[3] In 1982 he purchased Anuanuraro, then Marutea Sud in 1984,[4] Aukena in 1988, and Nengonengo in 1990.[3] He became the richest man in French Polynesia, until a collapse in the pearl market in 1998.[4]
In 2002 he sold Anuanuraro to the French Polynesian government. The sale sparked a criminal probe for misuse of public funds,[5] and Wan and a number of leading politicians, including former president Gaston Flosse, were charged with corruption.[6] Wan and Flosse were finally acquitted in July 2017.[7]