Matthew T Moroun

Matthew Moroun is a Detroit billionaire who inherited and runs a vast transportation, real estate, and materials empire from his father Manuel "Matty" Moroun. He controls the Ambassador Bridge (the busiest international border crossing in North America), Central Transport trucking company, and Crown Enterprises real estate. Through Crown Materials Group/ Hercules Concrete/ Sultan Mining, the family operates concrete plants and gravel mines, giving them control over key construction materials. Their vertical integration across transportation, real estate, and construction materials creates multilayered influence over Detroit's development - they can profit from land acquisition, materials supply, and transportation logistics for major projects. Like other Detroit billionaires, Moroun maintains political influence through campaign contributions while using the family's economic leverage to shape policy decisions around transportation, trade, and development. The family are major donors to far-right political causes, including Trump-aligned Super PACs, efforts to restrict voting rights in Michigan, anti-union legislation, and opposition to public infrastructure projects that could compete with their private assets. This exemplifies Detroit's feudal power structure, where a small group of billionaire families control not just specific industries but interconnected systems of physical infrastructure, development, and policy while funding political movements that protect their concentrated private power.