The China Hustle (2017) User Reviews

Informative and revealing how scams never cease

[londonmapper · 8/10 · 14 May 2018]

An excellent movie to watch. While the film does make some ridiculous generalisations ("there is no rule of law in China"), it is extremely revealing how nondescript Chinese companies that Chinese investors would not have touched with a barge pole were sold as "the next hot thing" to unsuspecting US based investors.

Of course, they could have done some homework and only invested in the 210 massive stable Chinese companies that are listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange or the 40 largest private companies like BYD listed in HKEx, greed seems to have got the better of them. In that case, retired people are no different from wall street bankers, except that the former tend to lose all they have while the latter get richer with 1 in 100 going to jail for seven years.

The documentary features excellent interviews with the wayer who represented these firms Mitchell Nussbaum, whistleblower Dan David (who is likable but at times emerges looking like a wannabe Michael Blurry from The Big Short) and Retd. general Wesley Clark who spoke at many of "investment seminars" held from 2008 to 2016 by the lead firm that sold those c#@ppy stocks and is the focus of the film (Roth Capital).

An excellent useful use of 2 hours of your life :)

Documentary about a rather obscure financial scandal

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 20 December 2022]

This is about yet another financial scandal. It's a perfect follow-up to The Big Short. After the crash of 2008-2009, some clever guys, both Chinese and American, worked out another way to scam the markets. Some smaller banks, especially Roth Capital, which threw lavish conferences featuring entertainment by the likes of Billy Idol and Snoop Dogg, and Rodman and Renshaw, captained by the former Democratic presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark, pushed reverse mergers.

You've never heard of reverse mergers? Chinese companies could not be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, so they "merged" with defunct American companies which had previously been listed, and presto change-o, now Chinese companies were on the exchange. There was no penalty for making outrageous claims about the assets of their businesses, and many Americans were only too eager to buy into this new opportunity. Neither the SEC nor Congress was concerned about the fraud involved. The "heroes" of our movie investigated some of these companies in China, a dangerous matter, published their research, and shorted the companies' stock, betting that the value of their stock would fall when the truth was revealed.

The China Hustle does a good job of explaining the financial matters so that the average viewercan understand. Neither the SEC, big law firms like Loeb & Loeb, the big accounting firms, nor Congress come out looking very good in this one.

Unforking Believable

[The_Boxing_Cat · 8/10 · 5 April 2018]

NOTHING China does surprises me.

This documentary put a lot of people in the hot seat- as it should. The only way to beat them is to expose them. Keep up the good fight!

It's downright criminal how they robbed people. How is this not like robbing a bank?

I definitely recommend this. It should be mandatory in our schools.

Z3

Investigative critque loses focus

[jazfro · 1 April 2018]

The documentary highlights a little-known scam on the US stockmarket: the fraudulent sale of so-called "high growth" Chinese stocks through reverse takeovers of so-called shell companies. In itself that story would have been worthy of consideration. However, the producers and director have elected to weave this into a critical narrative of capitalism and the US economic institutions which distracts from the main story. One of the highlights of the movie is when they document how little US banks, regulators, stockbrokers, investors, etc. knew about China in the first place. This story was not so much about the corruption or weakness of US institutions against the alleged malevolence of scheming Chinese (and American) stock-pushers, but about the ignorance of Americans about the rest of the world. I'm holding my breath about the sequel to come about the next wave of sham investments about India, Africa, or another place Americans know little about.

Very much entertaining

[Ganbat · 7/10 · 2 April 2018]

I have been living here in China almost 2 decades and i know for a fact that some so called Chinese companies estimated growth and user base numbers are highly exaggerated and fake, it sickness me from time to time.

Eye opening! Everybody should watch this.

[sovik-jana-1 · 9/10 · 14 April 2018]

An eye opening account of what is going on Globally circling the China growth story. How the American wealthy, and the President is trying to cover up one of the biggest hustles in the history of capitalism. This should be seen by everyone everywhere, even those who don't directly invest in capital markets.

Waste of a Good Story

[aspinnock · 6/10 · 17 August 2020]

Great story potential but the direction of the documentary ran off into weird areas and kind of lost the plot. Also, the attempt to simplify the story so a 10 year old could understand it meant everything took a very long time to explain. I'm a stockmarket fanatic but I couldn't finish this one. Really disappointing as I was interested in the methods being used to monitor the Chinese companies and all I got was CCTV footage showing a lack of trucks - kind of understandable though considering that monitoring private companies in China is a jailable offence. I wanted more than just claims that capitalism is a flawed system and that Americans can be greedy, I knew all that before watching.

Highly Recommended

[emperoryad · 10/10 · 4 April 2018]

Excellent Movie! Do a search on this movie and see the excellent reviews from various Financial sites such as Forbes, MarketWatch, etc. Very good drama and this is really what is going on, more people need to know about this. It hasn't yet received the notoriety of or its not mainstream knowledge like the Madoff scandal but this is probably a bigger fraud and mess. Interesting how all this works.

China Is Going Incognito

[mihai_alexandru_chindris · 7/10 · 20 May 2018]

This is a really, really great documentary, that covers a topic many aren't aware of. It is interesting to see how China has become the villain that never gets caught. What seems like a nightmare for America, is, in fact, a paradise for the Chinese people, that continually feed the beast, which is the money making machine AKA China. Through fraudulent actions, this country continues to surprise the world with its booming economy. I'm curios to see how things are going to evolve and whether we are headed to another financial cris or not.

Unnoticed

[reneereives · 8/10 · 17 March 2019]

I can admit I was lost during part of this, even with an economics degree, but made for a great source to do research. I feel like I completely missed this scam occurring between China and the US during and following the recession. It's absurd to think that this is still occurring and that some short investors think the government will do anything about it. It's quite obvious this scheme is not going to go away. I guess buyer beware.

10/10 ..until the last 5 minutes where it loses some points.

[curzon_dax · 7/10 · 30 July 2022]

It's partly disingenuous, in that it does lay out some good evidence (apparently) about small companies being frauds and related to western scams but then at the last few minutes of the movie it drops some attacks on certain bigger companies without showing much of evidence.

An educating watch....up to an extent.

[jmn_dave · 8/10 · 10 August 2019]

I loved the beginning of this documentary a lot. The entire narrative and examples shown were great. But then I had my own tiny bit of experience too. And at the end when they even Dragged Jack ma into it they lost me.....

Smart people already know this stuff

[Erik_Stone · 7/10 · 27 April 2022]

Still, it not a bad documentary. Just preaching to the choir for me.

What the filmmakers don't seem to realize is that a lot of politicians in the US government are working for the Chinese, and not ignorant of what is happening.

It's a laudable goal to help Americans to not be defrauded, but the SEC has always been a nefarious organization designed to give government control over private businesses and funnel money into the pockets of the daily oligarchs. This is the ultimate purpose for nearly all government organizations, despite any altruistic ideas about their founding.

Good information, but misjudged outcome

[mehmetoney · 5/10 · 23 December 2020]

The least guilty part in this scam story, are the Chinese companies without a doubt.

Some smart *** wall street d*** heads, found some low life companies in China, and make them an offer for a merge, to able to get into US stock market. And all the rednecks, who have been manipulated and lost money, are crying out loud, by blaming China. ahhahaha

Guys, sorry but, if you offer the same thing, to any miserable, worthless company, in whole world, they would accept to get into this scam, without thinking twice.

The real bast***s to be damned in this story, are the wall street j*rks unfortunately, not China, or Chinese companies. Simply, US people are scamming other US people. Pathetic as hell.

Great expose on investment banks and funds

[Waldorf-1979 · 4 February 2021]

The big players in the financial industry are never satiated. Right after the 2008 crisis where the whole industry was bailed out by taxpayers they start a different scam. Using dirty legal tricks they manage to get billions out of "dumb money" (aka your 401/pension/savings). The regulators don't care. Nobody does due diligence. And people exposing the scam face harassment and even prision. Both in USA and China.

It's amazing how this house of cards keeps on going.

Sadly this documentary has big 2 flaws. It doesn't have enough material to fill the full length and it lacks in production.

Interesting and Informative

[mrtimpson-67619 · 9/10 · 6 April 2018]

Interesting Documentary. Worth watching. Seems like the "China Hustle" will keep happening for a while. Muddy Waters Research from this movie has an interesting report on CIFS on their website and is currently short CIFS. I'm curious to see what happens to that company and the stock.

Greed is Universal

[keikoyoshikawa · 8/10 · 28 March 2021]

So basically some American and Chinese people got together to scam gullable investors. If that was all there was to the story, I could not care less. But the real problem is that these scams have a cascading effect that adversely affect real people like you and me. We end up losing our pensions or jobs, while those on Wall Street, bankers, lawyers, and politicians make millions. The entire system is rigged. The only heroes in this story are the few ethical people trying to shine a light on this, some of whom pay a heavy price for their honesty.

Evil running (the world)

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 8 August 2018]

Or something like that. I think sometimes you just feel like the less you know the better you can sleep. On the other hand, deep down inside you know corruption is real and you know there is a lot of "hustling" going on. And this just shines a light on things.

Really good documentary, though you may not feel like watching it, if it's not your thing of course. Many interviews and a clear structure. It really builds up to something although obviously it does not offer solutions. How could it? Still fascinating and enticing.

CHINA IS A BIG PONZI SCHEME

[spacechick-75-91100 · 10/10 · 31 August 2019]

Do you really know where your money is going in the stock market? Do you really believe the financial reports from the companies you are invested in?

Think Bernie Madoff, China style.

China is operating like The Wizard Of Oz of Wall Street in this movie. This movie makes is a revealing look behind the blue smoke and mirrors of Roth Capital Partners ..... crooks.

Great documentary. Watch it!

Good but ultimately unfulfilling

[TheTruthofItIs · 4/10 · 14 October 2018]

China Hustle was revealing in yet another disgusting mega-financial fraud perpetuated on the public. Where it lacked was in resolution. There was a token effort by some of the principals to get the attention of Congress but there was little to no effort to involve the SEC or get them on camera as to their ignorance or non-action in this area. This presentation was more about describing the problem than resolving it or presenting a plan to resolve, so it lacked a satisfying conclusion. Finally, this covered the time period of 2008 to 2012 so it's not clear this is a continuing problem or the fraud has run its course. At the end, it threw some shade on the Alibaba IPO (2014) but nothing firm. Again, easy to throw shade, cast asperions, but we can watch "Real Housewives" for that. Investigative documentaries need to bring investigations to a close either with convictions, acquittals, or new laws/regs designed to address the problems.

Well-made expose of a lesser-known fraud

[lor_ · 19 March 2018]

Jed Rothstein does a bang-up job in bringing to cinematic life a recent but underreported massive fraud perpetrated on U.S. stock investors by unscrupulous Chinese companies and equally shady American brokers, auditors and lawyers. It is a timely documentary in this era where Republican domination of the federal government, and there absurd anti-regulation crusade merely encourage more such fleecing of the public.

Principal whistleblower here is a Pennsylvanian by way of Flint, Michigan (famed as the home of veteran movie muckraker Michael Moore) named Dan David, who declares at the outset of the show that there are no good guys depicted, himself included. He headed up an investment firm that helped push several new Chinese companies on the Big Board, only later to discover that their profits and vast growth were fictional.

The gimmick started with Reverse Mergers, whereby a company would merge into an SEC registered company of old that was inactive, say a 19th Century mining corporation. That trick circumvented the due diligence necessary for a new company to gain a stock listing, and creepy folks here in the U.S. took it from there.

Location footage shot secretly in China show how phony the supposdly booming companies actually were, and interviewees take us through the potentially dry financial machinations that come alive under Jed's direction. Dramatic highpoint occurs when former presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark walks off the set during his interview, rightfully realizing it will put him in a bad light as ex-CEO of one of the misbehaving investment banks.

Ultimately I suspect the ongoing wave of Republican party and right-wing propaganda will overwhelm this film or any other's message, in favor of advancing the shibboleths that ending government supervision (read: "interference") with the free market will solve all ills. Just as Trump so easily gets away (so far) with every outlandish denial or contradiction of the truth on a daily basis, such eye-opening exercises as this fact-filled documentary require a public willing to listen, something currently not in the cards.

Never trust CHYNa and Wuhan Virus spreader

[parth-95945 · 10/10 · 14 March 2021]

CHYna sucks. Cheating is in the CCPs blood. Never trust them

An inconvenient truth for Hollywood

[Inthebiz80 · 8/10 · 29 March 2021]

A wake up call for Chinese company potential investors.

Then short Alibaba

[rpn313 · 3/10 · 3 March 2019]

If you're going to show Alibaba's IPO in the final few minutes of this documentary on Chinese fraud companies, and then imply there's something nefarious going on with Alibaba's accounting, then you must conclude the film by telling us whether you are short Alibaba stock. Otherwise what's the point, based on everything that has been said in the film.

Poorly made and laugh worthy

[zetret · 1/10 · 25 April 2020]

The makers at the end claimed Alibaba, a Chinese company, was fraud. After a few years, we now know it isn't. Will the makers be issuing a clarification on that?

There was no scientific data presented to analyze any of the companies. The lead guy says he analyzed a fertilizer company by placing a camera outside their offices. And just because there weren't many trucks seen there, the company was fraudulent. Also, he said the cameras recorded only for 344 days showing no trucks. So, were there trucks on the rest of the days that you left out? These Americans in the documentary had a clear agenda - which was the short the new Chinese companies, then throw fake propaganda at them, then profit when the stock plummets.

The documentary starts off by telling us the perspective of a few Americans who apparently unearthed a few frauds. Towards the end, the xenophobia caught up to them to the level that one guy called the entire Chinese society as flawed, whereas the American society is so great. Oh thanks, who knew? And what a coincidence that you are American.

Another question of concern here is that they claim the Chinese companies list their accurate financial statements with the Chinese regulators and that an American bank brings these Chinese companies to America (presumably as stocks or ADRs). They claim that their values are inflated in America and not in China. So who is the fraud here? Aren't the Americans? Then why did one guy exclaim towards the end that the Chinese society is flawed?

It was so funny to watch this. The most bizarre and horrendous documentary ever made. One guy is sitting outside his house talking to some old people trying to make some jokes (wise-cracks) which fall flat, then driving through Flint, Michigan, trying to show him off as the hero just because this he is the only one in the documentary who's from Flint. Complete joke!

Thanks for the laugh though. Take my one star.The worst, most non-scientific, and funniest finance documentary in the history.