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Recently, an arbitration case has brought to light a dispute between streaming giant Netflix and director Carl Erik Rinsch. It has also revealed a dramatic turn of events where the director misappropriated series budget for stock trading, incurred substantial losses, and then made a significant comeback by investing in Dogecoin.
According to Cointelegraph, citing The New York Times, Rinsch claims that Netflix violated the contract and owes him up to $14 million in compensation. Netflix denies this and considers Rinsch's demands as a form of extortion.
The New York Times disclosed the behind-the-scenes story of this legal turmoil. In March 2020, Netflix acquired Rinsch's idea and provided him with an initial budget of up to $44 million to produce the sci-fi series "Conquest." However, after 16 months, Rinsch again approached Netflix, citing "production difficulties" and requesting an additional investment of $11 million. Netflix agreed to his request, with the condition that the series must be completed.
Instead, Rinsch used $10.5 million of the new funds for stock market trading. Through buying and selling pharmaceutical companies and the S&P 500 index, he lost nearly $6 million in just a few weeks. Subsequently, Rinsch transferred the remaining over $4 million to the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange account to purchase Dogecoin. Unlike the substantial losses in the stock market, this time Rinsch experienced a turnaround. When he liquidated his Dogecoin position in May 2021, he unexpectedly gained nearly $27 million. In a conversation with Kraken team members, Rinsch praised cryptocurrencies, saying, "Thank you, God bless cryptocurrency."
After earning this substantial sum, Rinsch began lavish spending, including purchasing five Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari, a watch worth over $380,000, and high-end furniture and designer clothing worth millions. At the same time, Rinsch and his wife Rosés were going through divorce proceedings. Rosés, also a producer of "Conquest," believed that Rinsch was concealing his cryptocurrency profits. She reported some of Rinsch's unusual behavior to Netflix executives. In September 2020, Netflix reorganized its management team, and executives related to Rinsch's contract left the company. In March of the following year, Netflix informed Rinsch of the decision to stop funding "Conquest" and initiated legal proceedings.
In other words, Netflix's investment of up to $55 million went down the drain. Moreover, Rinsch claimed in his testimony that these expensive cars and furniture were props for "Conquest," paid for using Netflix's production funds. Therefore, Netflix still owes him several payments, totaling over $14 million. The case had a hearing in early November, and a court ruling is expected soon. |
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Post time 28-11-2023 06:08:29