As per Deadline, the trial is set to begin for director Carl Rinsch (47 Ronin, The Gifts) in September after he entered a plea of not guilty to a slew of charges, including wire fraud and money laundering. Rinsch is currently out on a $100,000 bond.
According to an investigation detailed by The New York Times, In scheme likened to Billy McFarland’s Fyre Festival grift, Rinsch received $55 million from Netflix to produce a science fiction series about artificial intelligent humanoids originally named White Horse and later renamed Conquest that never came to fruition. Some might even call it conspiratorial after a whimsical start up that not only saw a bidding war between Netflix and Prime Video over who would pick up Rinsch and his wife Gabriela Rosés project, but also an investment by production company 30West and even a later incursion by co-producer and investor Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, John Wick) .
The New York Times continued on to detail the troubles the production faced including complaint from Brazil’s film union about a filming crew being allegedly abused. The issues expanded as Rinsch allegedly began taking prescription amphetamines and allegedly sent an email to Netflix executives involved in the project claiming that he found a way to map “the coronavirus signal emanating from within the earth.”
Even as the ship began to sink, Netflix, Reeves, and 30West fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy as they continued to invest in the project due to the huge investments already poured into it. Although Rinsch failed to meet production deadlines, he demanded another $11 million, which he received from Netflix. He famously invested it in Dogecoin, cashing out with a profit of $23 million — only to allegedly spend it on Rolls-Royce’s, Ferrari’s, watches, and luxury hotels.
Deadline reports that Netflix was awarded $11.8 million in mid-2024 from arbitration proceedings against Rinsch. He is due back in court later this month for an estate assessment to determine whether Netflix may be able to recoup some of its losses out of his ill-gotten possessions.
Via Deadline, the embattled director’s charges include alleged wire fraud, money laundering, and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activities. Even if ran concurrently, he is still facing up to 20 years in prison.