@wired

Director Carl Erik Rinsch was arrested in West Hollywood, California, on Tuesday, charged with an $11 million conspiracy to defraud Netflix over a science-fiction show that was never made. In an indictment announced by prosecutors for the Southern District of New York and the FBI’s New York Field Office, Rinsch is accused of using funding he secured between 2018 and 2022 to trade securities and spend lavishly on personal expenses instead of putting it towards making the show, no episodes of which were ever delivered. Netflix is not named in the indictment, and is only referred to as “a subscription video on-demand streaming service” or “Streaming Company-1” in an accompanying FBI press release. But the New York Times first detailed the dispute between Netflix and Rinsch in 2023. In 2024, an arbitrator ruled that Rinsch owed the company nearly $12 million in damages and legal fees. FBI assistant director Leslie Backschies said in a statement: “Carl Rinsch allegedly stole more than $11 million from a prominent streaming platform to finance lavish purchases and personal investments instead of completing a promised television series. The FBI will continue to reel in any individual who seeks to defraud businesses.” Rinsch, 47, is charged with one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unspecified unlawful activity. Netflix declined to comment.

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