Lies and lack of transparency in a business relationship

My wife is trying to start a business. She has no experience at all. She is working with the husband of a friend who is importing products from China. He is in China and his wife is in the USA on a tourist visa (no work allowed but she works). She spends the majority of her time in the USA.I have caught this guy lying or being way less than transparent many times. I have had it!I think he thinks others are stupid and can not easily see his misdeeds.A week ago I warned him about that in a conference call. He just did it again and I have now switched to “You tried to screw with me and my wife too many times so F you” mode and I am asking for a settlement or I will do everything in my power to totally screw up his life, including his wife being reported to ICE as she is in blatant violation of her tourist visa.In my mind, a “partnership” or cooperation is based on truth and respect - there is not enough time in the day to have to verify and confirm everything someone says or does. It will never stop or improve if the second party has a less than acceptable level of honesty and transparency.I never lied or was non-transparent with him. Not even once.My wife thinks that because they are Chinese (the other party), I should be willing to accept this behavior. I totally disagree.It is a startup not big money, but us being in the USA as lawful citizens (me USA born, my wife naturalized Chinese ), we hold the risk here.I lived in China for ten years. Over there, the Chinese do, in almost all cases, all they can do to screw foreigners - as the “Chinese Line” among all Chinese citizens allows and even encourages this, and the legal system is no recourse as it does not give a rats ass about a foreigner’s interest. 95% of Chinese lie like crazy and exploit non-Chinese at every chance. I see him trying to do the same thing from 6,000 miles away. When I catch him he replies “you are so smart”, or totally ignores the point or issue.My wife wants to have her own company very badly and she is very disappointed. I am trying to explain to her that she needs a trustworthy and honest partner or any enterprise is ultimately doomed.Do you agree when dealing with lying business “partners” if the offenses continue, even after a warning, that all bets should be off and one should change into “screw them” mode and claw back all possible money/power via all available legal resources?Comments? via /r/business http://ift.tt/2x5u5CF