The director accused of Fraud Netflix with millions of dollars will argue in court that it was not in full mental faculties
The director Carl Rinsch on the filming boards of the feature film “47 Ronin”, his best-known project, photo: H2F Entertainment-Atlantic / AFP / Profimedia Images
Lawyers employed by director Carl Rinsch intend to claim that he was in a “psychosis” when he was doing the series “White Horse” and, therefore, cannot be found guilty of Netflix fraud with $ 11 million, reports Variety magazine.
In a motion filed on Monday, Defense lawyers said they intend to call a psychiatrist, Dr. John Mariani, to prove that Rinsch was unable to “form the intention needed to be accused of fraud.”
“It is also expected that Dr. Mariani testifies that Mr. Rinsch's mental disorders were probably aggravated by external factors, including the use of prescribed incentives and the psychological impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic,” the defense said.
Rinsch was charged in March on the charge of spending the production funds on cryptocurrencies and extravagant personal expenses. He pleaded innocent and is going to appear in court on a hearing on Tuesday.
According to the indictment drawn up by US federal prosecutors, Rinsch asked for funds to film White Horsea scientific-fantastic series that has never been completed. Instead, he would have used the money to make “extremely risky investments”, to pay stays at “Four Seasons” and other extravagant purchases.
The 48 -year -old director is best known for the film 47 ronin since 2013. Keanu Reeves has been a poster for a distribution made up of Japanese actors like Hiroyuki Sanada and Tadanobu Asano.
A Netflix series that has never been completed before
According to judicial documents, Rinsch proposed the series, initially called ConquestNetflix directors in January 2018. With an investment from Keanu Reeves, his mentor, Rinsch had already filmed six short episodes and a three -minute trailer.
Netflix agreed to invest $ 44 million to buy the series and produce the first season. An ambitious program was established that provided several months of filming in Kenya, Mexico, Romania, Germany, Hungary and Uruguay in 2019.
Rinsch started filming in Brazil and quickly exceeded the budget, according to the court documents. Although he had promised to film seven more episodes, he informed Netflix that he could complete only one episode with the money already received.
After the production was temporarily interrupted in Hungary, Netflix agreed to advance additional funds. Filming stopped in December 2019, with many episodes still unfinished. Rinsch then began to expand the script and asked for another $ 11 million to complete the first season. Hoping to save the project, Netflix agreed to pay the amount in March 2020.
Rinsch began to behave bizarre after the filming suspension
Filming at the series stopped everything after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, paralyzing the film production worldwide. In June 2020, Rinsch met at a hotel with two of Netflix directors to give them an update on the project status.
“Rinsch spent a large part of the meeting sharing various theories he had developed about Covid, Universe, Interconnectivity, Gender, God, Higher Calls and Reproduction,” the August decision of the Arbitration Court shows. “Not focused on Conquest“, This shows.
Concerned, Netflix directors have come to the conclusion that Rinsch did not intend to finish the series. The main actor also withdrew, invoking the instability of the production. In the fall of that year, Netflix decided to cross the project in accounting as a loss.
