Director reportedly used $11 million of Netflix’s money on stocks and crypto
NetflixNetflix is currently in a legal battle with one of its directors, the company axing one of their TV shows after reportedly discovering the budget was being used by Carl Erik Rinsch on the stock market, purchasing cryptocurrency and other personal items, instead of using it to develop the series.
As reported by The New York Times, Netflix is now locked into a confidential arbitration proceeding involving a previously greenlit TV series that was scrapped. The show, which had director Carl Erik Rinsch attached to the project, was given a budget of $55 million.
The project in question, called Conquest, was set to be a science fiction TV series. It was originally set to debut with a 13-episode season. After receiving an initial budget of $44 million, Rinsch reportedly asked Netflix for more funding in March of 2020.
While Netflix was supposedly hesitant to hand over more funding for the project at first, the streaming giant eventually relented after the director claimed the whole project would go down without it, according to the reports.
Before long, the company axed the show after reportedly discovering Rinsch was using the allotted budget on the stock market and cryptocurrencies. In addition, he also allegedly used Netflix’s money to purchase multiple Rolls-Royces, furniture, and designer clothing.
Thomas Cherian, a spokesperson for Netflix, commented on the ongoing investigation. Explaining how, “while the company provided funding and support for Rinsch’s series, after a lot of time and effort, it became clear that Mr. Rinsch was never going to complete the project he agreed to make, and so we wrote the project off.”
When asked to also comment on the ongoing dispute, Rinsch declined to provide a statement, later posting on an Instagram story that he was unwilling as he anticipated questioning to “discuss the fact that I somehow lost my mind … (Spoiler alert) … I did not.”
As this is still an ongoing investigation, more details may become public in the coming weeks. If this is the case, we’ll be sure to update you on the story as it unfolds.
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