Having been a businessman for two decades, Gregory Wings' journey in real estate has been laced with money laundering, a jail sentence and fraud charges — a part of his story he's fully embraced in his upcoming memoir.
Hailing from the US, Wings first became a licensed contractor and realtor in 2002, which saw him build his first company Metropolitan Realty & Construction into a brokerage with nine offices and more than 500 real estate agents.
Wings later sold that business to focus on construction and investing in minority-owned businesses, but when he loaned $200k (R3.75m) to a local minority-owned HVAC company he was sentenced to time in a federal prison for money laundering.
“One of my main investors in my business was a big drug dealer in the US and even though he always paid me with legal money from his bank account. I was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After serving eight years I was released early for good behaviour in 2014. I ran back into the same gentlemen who I had loaned the $200k to in 2007,” he told TshisaLIVE.
In 2023 Wings found himself making headlines in South Africa for all the wrong reasons again when he was charged with fraud after suppliers of the Burna Boy concert weren’t paid. The money due to them was allegedly stolen by Wings’ business partner Sedote Nwachukwu.
Later Wings was cleared of all fraud charges.
He's since shifted his focus, partnering with local construction companies to help develop the infrastructure of South Africa.
“Outside the Burna Boy show debacle, business in South Africa has been wonderful to me. This is a country full of smart, hardworking people, like anywhere else in the world. The biggest difference I see is that the continent of Africa in my opinion will be the next mega-development area in the world.
“The rest of the world is overcrowded and looking for more space, meanwhile Africa has an abundance of land with amazing untapped resources that the rest of the world is missing out on for one reason or another.”
Speaking of why he's chosen to do business in South Africa, Wings said he had a track record of working with a local company and wanted to continue growing with them.
“I didn’t choose South Africa, I feel like it chose me. I came here to invest in a Burna Boy show, but as I moved around South Africa. I saw that my company could make an impact in the construction industry and could assist in the affordable housing sector. I’m not here to be better than anyone else I’m here to assist, develop and invest in the local economy.”
Gregory Wings gets candid about his 'Burna Boy show debacle' & his plans to build affordable homes in SA
“Outside the Burna Boy show debacle, business in South Africa has been wonderful to me. This is a country full of smart, hardworking people.”
Image: Supplied
Having been a businessman for two decades, Gregory Wings' journey in real estate has been laced with money laundering, a jail sentence and fraud charges — a part of his story he's fully embraced in his upcoming memoir.
Hailing from the US, Wings first became a licensed contractor and realtor in 2002, which saw him build his first company Metropolitan Realty & Construction into a brokerage with nine offices and more than 500 real estate agents.
Wings later sold that business to focus on construction and investing in minority-owned businesses, but when he loaned $200k (R3.75m) to a local minority-owned HVAC company he was sentenced to time in a federal prison for money laundering.
“One of my main investors in my business was a big drug dealer in the US and even though he always paid me with legal money from his bank account. I was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After serving eight years I was released early for good behaviour in 2014. I ran back into the same gentlemen who I had loaned the $200k to in 2007,” he told TshisaLIVE.
In 2023 Wings found himself making headlines in South Africa for all the wrong reasons again when he was charged with fraud after suppliers of the Burna Boy concert weren’t paid. The money due to them was allegedly stolen by Wings’ business partner Sedote Nwachukwu.
Later Wings was cleared of all fraud charges.
He's since shifted his focus, partnering with local construction companies to help develop the infrastructure of South Africa.
“Outside the Burna Boy show debacle, business in South Africa has been wonderful to me. This is a country full of smart, hardworking people, like anywhere else in the world. The biggest difference I see is that the continent of Africa in my opinion will be the next mega-development area in the world.
“The rest of the world is overcrowded and looking for more space, meanwhile Africa has an abundance of land with amazing untapped resources that the rest of the world is missing out on for one reason or another.”
Speaking of why he's chosen to do business in South Africa, Wings said he had a track record of working with a local company and wanted to continue growing with them.
“I didn’t choose South Africa, I feel like it chose me. I came here to invest in a Burna Boy show, but as I moved around South Africa. I saw that my company could make an impact in the construction industry and could assist in the affordable housing sector. I’m not here to be better than anyone else I’m here to assist, develop and invest in the local economy.”
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