A Hollywood screenwriter and director was arrested on March 18 on charges that he swindled $11 million from Netflix for a sci-fi show that never aired. Instead, the filmmaker funneled the money into cryptocurrency investments and a series of lavish purchases that included a collection of Rolls-Royces and Ferraris, CNN reported.

Carl Eric Rinsch - perhaps best known for directing the film "47 Ronin" - has been charged with fraud and money laundering for what federal prosecutors say was a scheme to defraud the streaming giant.

Prosecutors allege that Netflix initially paid about $44 million to buy an unfinished series called "White Horse" from Rinsch, but eventually dropped another $11 million after he said he needed additional money to finish the series.

Instead of using the extra money to finish production, Rinsch quietly transferred it to a personal brokerage account, where he made a series of failed investments that resulted in him losing about half of the $11 million in two months, prosecutors say.

The filmmaker then threw the rest of the money into the cryptocurrency market, which turned out to be a profitable move, and Rinsch eventually transferred the proceeds into a personal bank account.

From there, Rinsch spent about $10 million on personal expenses and luxury purchases in a splurge that prosecutors said included about $1.8 million on credit card bills; $1 million on lawyers to sue Netflix for more money; $3.7 million on furniture and antiques; $2.4 million on five Rolls Royces and one Ferrari; and $652,000 on watches and clothes.

Rinsch, 47, was arrested in West Hollywood and is due to appear in federal court in California later on March 18, authorities said. The indictment against him was filed in New York. | BGNES