Director Who Spent 16 Billion Won from Netflix on Coins and Luxury Goods

Used Production Funds for Personal Purposes Such as Cryptocurrency Investments
Indicted on Charges of Fraud and Money Laundering

A Hollywood director who gained fame with the movie '47 Ronin' has been indicted by prosecutors for squandering production funds received from Netflix through investments and other means.

On the 20th (local time), the U.S. Southern District of New York Prosecutor's Office indicted director Carl Eric Lynch (47) on 7 charges including fraud on the 18th in West Hollywood, Los Angeles (LA). Director Lynch is accused of violating contracts by using over 60 billion won invested by a video streaming company for TV series production on personal matters such as cryptocurrency investments.

Director Cal Lynch. Photo by AP Yonhap News

In 2018, he partially completed the script for a sci-fi TV series called 'White Horse' and signed a production contract with the company. According to local media reports and the prosecutor's indictment, the company paid about 44 million dollars (approximately 64.53 billion won) to the director as production costs at that time. Later, Director Lynch demanded more money, claiming "costs are insufficient," and received an additional 11 million dollars. However, he used more than half of it to purchase securities, and the remaining money was all squandered on cryptocurrency investments, luxury hotel stays, luxury goods purchases, divorce lawsuit fees, and so on.

Leslie Baxkis, Deputy Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), explained in a press release, "Carl Lynch did not film the promised TV series and is accused of stealing more than 11 million dollars (about 16.13 billion won) from the funds of a famous streaming platform to cover investment funds and purchase luxury goods." Prosecutors stated that Director Lynch could face up to 20 years in prison for fraud and money laundering charges, and up to 10 years for the other five charges.

Hollywood media outlets such as Variety reported, "Although not specified in the indictment, the company defrauded by Director Lynch is Netflix." Netflix has not issued a separate statement regarding this matter.