Welcome to ICYMI, where we recap the pop culture and entertainment news you might have missed over the past week. Director accused of spending Netflix money on luxury cars Carl Erik Rinsch — best known for directing 2013 action film 47 Ronin — has been arrested and charged with wire fraud and money laundering this week. Prosecutors will argue that Rinsch conducted a scheme to defraud Netflix after the streaming giant paid him millions of dollars for a show that never materialised.
This new one-take crime drama takes toxic masculinity to a violent extreme. Netflix paid Rinsch $US44 million ($69 million) for an unfinished show called White Horses, and later another $US11 million ($17 million) to wrap up production. However, according to prosecutors, Rinsch didn't spend this money on production, instead funnelling the $11 million into a personal account and promptly losing around half of it on bad investments over two months.
The filmmaker clawed some of the money back by dumping it into the cryptocurrency market and then went on a spending spree. According to prosecutors, Rinsch spent about $10 million on personal expenses and luxury items, including credit card bills, lawyers to sue Netflix for more money, furniture and antiques, five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari, watches and clothes. Rinsch had an initial hearing at a Los Angeles court earlier in the week where he did not enter a plea and agreed to pay a $US100,000 ($150,000) bond.
He'll face a New York court on his charg.
