Netflix Pays $11M, Director Invests It All in Risky Bets Instead of Filming

KEY POINTS

•Director Carl Erik Rinsch received $11 million from Netflix on March 6, 2020, to continue his 'White Horse' series.
•Instead of filming, Rinsch lost nearly $12 million in risky options trading involving Gilead Sciences and market bets.
•Netflix withdrew support in September 2020, later writing off the project as a tax loss and now Rinsch faces fraud charges.

Carl Erik Rinsch, a 48-year-old director with a visionary show called 'White Horse,' got Netflix to wire him $11 million on March 6, 2020, smack in the middle of a pandemic. Instead of finishing the clones-vs-humans showdown he’d already spent $44 million on, he dove headfirst into reckless options trading on Gilead Sciences and the S&P 500, losing over $11 million total. His Wells Fargo broker tried to slam the brakes, but Rinsch just moved the money to Charles Schwab, bragging he could send $3 million of 'personal funds' to keep gambling. Meanwhile, Netflix exec Peter Friedlander called the project 'visionary' yet froze support and called out Rinsch's slow decisions. The show collapsed; Netflix even wrote off the project as a tax loss in November 2020. Now, Rinsch faces up to 90 years behind bars because apparently, ‘I can afford to lose the money’ isn’t an airtight investment strategy.