Crouching Fraud, Hidden Problems

China isn't just exporting into the U.S. toxic toys or poisonous pet food. It's also exporting toxic companies to invest in -- and not just the problematic reverse mergers that have made headlines recently. Disclosure looked at five year's worth of SEC filings for 27 China-based companies listed here, and looked at 100 different risk factors for each company. A big “24 got negative ratings,” says John Gavin, founder and chief executive of Disclosure. Problems included SEC probes, accounting/auditor problems, fights with the boards or executive suites, and other investigative activity. Just eleven were reverse mergers (for names of the companies, see below).

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