Netflix handed a director millions to make a sci-fi series, but he squandered it on stocks, crypto, and flashy cars: NYT
- Netflix gave Carl Erik Rinsch, the director of "47 Ronin," millions to produce a sci-fi series.
- But Rinsch used the money to trade stocks and crypto instead, The New York Times reported.
Carl Erik Rinsch, the director of "47 Ronin," took millions of dollars that Netflix gave him for his sci-fi series to play the stock and cryptocurrency markets, The New York Times reported.
The 46-year-old director scored a $61.2 million production deal from Netflix for a sci-fi series, the Times' John Carreyrou reported on Wednesday, citing a November 2018 term sheet.
The Times reported that Netflix had sunk $44.3 million on Rinsch's show "Conquest" by March 2020 but that Rinsch then told the streaming company he needed more money, or production would cease.
Netflix acceded to Rinsch's request and gave his production company an additional $11 million.
But that money wasn't all spent on producing the series. Rinsch instead used $10.5 million from Netflix's 2020 round of funding to play the stock market, the Times reported, citing court filings and financial documents from his divorce, and eventually lost $5.9 million in trading.
Rinsch then pivoted to the crypto market, the Times reported, but he was luckier this time. Buying Dogecoin turned Rinsch's $4 million bet into nearly $27 million, the report says.
Rinsch then spent $8.7 million on fancy cars and designer goods, the Times reported, citing the findings from a forensic accountant hired by Rinsch's wife. Rinsch's reported purchases included a Ferrari and five Rolls-Royces.
Despite spending more than $55 million on Rinsch's series, Netflix has yet to receive any episodes from the director.
Thomas Cherian, a spokesperson for Netflix, told the Times that the company had written off Rinsch's series, adding it was "clear that Mr. Rinsch was never going to complete the project he agreed to make." Rinsch declined to answer the Times' questions when contacted for comment.
The Times reported that Rinsch and Netflix were undergoing confidential arbitration proceedings and that Rinsch, who initiated the arbitration, was claiming that Netflix owed him at least $14 million in damages for breaching their contract.
Rinsch's filmography consists of only one movie, the action movie "47 Ronin," starring Keanu Reeves, from 2013. The movie was panned by critics and was one of the biggest box-office bombs that year.
Representatives for Rinsch and Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.