Watch Dirty Money and you’ll never see your credit card bill, your banker, or Ivanka’s husband the same way again.
It’s a front-row seat to capitalism’s ugliest backroom deals—with receipts.
Thanks to Mary Bliss for recommending this beast of a binge.
Trailer for “Dirty Money”
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- Volkswagen engineers created defeat devices that let 11 million diesel cars cheat emissions tests while pumping out 40x the legal limit of NOx gases.
- Scott Tucker ran a $3.5B payday loan empire charging 700% interest—while using shell companies and tribal loopholes to dodge regulators.
- HSBC laundered hundreds of millions for drug cartels and Hezbollah—and got off with a $1.9B fine, which was just five weeks’ profit.
Watch “Dirty Money”
You can watch “Dirty Money” on Netflix here.
You can find the latest streaming options at JustWatch.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 92/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 90/100 (Users), 100/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: Alex Gibney (executive producer) leads this Netflix original. Known for “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” and “Going Clear“.
Release Date: Season 1 dropped January 26, 2018; Season 2 followed on March 11, 2020.
My Review of “Dirty Money”
The Setup
Each episode focuses on a single case of corporate corruption or fraud. These are not “bad apple” stories—this is a buffet of institutional rot, from auto giants to drug companies to sovereign governments.
It’s an 11-part lesson in how power protects itself—often at the expense of the poor, the sick, or the entire planet.
More Highlights from the Doc
- Wells Fargo opened 3.5 million fake accounts without customer consent to hit sales targets. Whistleblowers were punished, execs got bonuses.
- Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak stole over $4B from a development fund (1MDB) and spent it on yachts, penthouses, and “Wolf of Wall Street” funding.
- Jared Kushner’s real estate company filed false paperwork, denied repairs, and used legal pressure to push rent-stabilized tenants out of buildings.
- Valeant jacked up drug prices by over 500%, moved profits offshore, and used a secret pharmacy (Philidor) to manipulate prescriptions.
- In Texas, a small town fights Formosa Plastics over illegal dumping of billions of plastic pellets into the ocean and bay.
- Canada’s maple syrup cartel—the Federation—goes after a black marketeer who stole $18M worth of syrup, leading to a major heist case.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- One episode shows Kushner’s company suing a veteran over a $40 debt—then tacking on thousands in legal fees.
- Formosa Plastics was hit with a $50M fine—the largest ever for a Clean Water Act case filed by private citizens.
- 1MDB’s stolen money ended up in Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation and helped bankroll “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
- Scott Tucker was once a professional race car driver—funding his Le Mans career with loan shark profits.
- Whistleblowers at Valeant were threatened with lawsuits and professional blacklisting.
Wrap Up
“Dirty Money” is a masterclass in modern corruption. If you’re angry after watching, that means it’s working.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc